What Caused a December Poker Tournament Attendance Decline in Las Vegas?
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December was a big month for major tournament poker in Las Vegas. But year-over-year turnout in the city's three key events was significantly down.
There are some potential contributing factors in play, one being the highly-publicized tourism decline in Las Vegas. The popular tourist destination had its roughest year since COVID in 2020. Many have attributed the nearly 10% drop in travelers to Southern Nevada to the economy, a decrease in international visitors to the U.S., and the penny-pinching casinos charging customers for just about everything other than oxygen these days (wait a year or two and they'll start charging for that).
Those non-poker issues may have played a small role in poker tournament attendance, but they were unlikely to have been the main cause.
Las Vegas Poker Tournament December Turnout
Las Vegas played host to three big events during the past month — WPT World Championship festival at Wynn Las Vegas, $100,000 buy-in Super High Roller Bowl at the PokerGO Studio, and the $1,600 buy-in BetMGM Poker Championship at Aria.
The WPT World Championship, a World Poker Tour season-ending extravanganza, featured dozens of events, many of which smashed guarantees. But the three key events were the $10,400 buy-in WPT World Championship Main Event, $1,100 WPT Prime Championship, and $1,100 WPT Ladies Championship. In two of those events, attendance was signficantly down compared to 2024.
WPT Prime Championship, won by Aaron Johnson for $1,010,400, had 9,876 entrants, up 2.1% year over year. But the Ladies Championship went from 485 entrants in 2024 to 445 in 2025 (down 8.2%), and the World Championship dropped from 2,392 entrants to 1,865 (down 22%).
Registration in the 10th edition of the Super High Roller Bowl closed last weekend with just 23 players in the field. While that was only a one-player decline compared to the 2024 tournament, which took place in August, the buy-in also dropped from $300,000 to $100,000, the lowest ever for the high roller tournament that first launched in 2015.
But the most significant attendance drop occurred in the BetMGM Poker Championship, which went from 1,130 entrants to 331 (down 70.7%), This year's tournament, however, had one fewer Day 1 flight compared to 2024, and the guarantee dropped from $1 million to $500,000. So, it wasn't exactly the same tournament. That said, there was overlay despite the decreased prize pool guarantee, a year after the larger guarantee was smashed.
Going back to November, the 2024 PokerStars North American Poker Tour (NAPT) at Resorts World, a $5,300 buy-in event, had 895 entries. This year? 738 entries, or a 17.5% decline.
What's the Deal?
Are poker players avoiding Las Vegas? That's unlikely the case, especially when you consider the list of card rooms around town is growing. Green Valley Ranch, for example, recently reopened its poker room for the first time since COVID.
While the attendance decline could be slightly attributed to tourism being down in Las Vegas, it's unlikely the biggest factor. So, what is the most likely contributing factor? A growth in major tournament options, and not just in Las Vegas, with the World Series of Poker Paradise (WSOPP) having the biggest impact.
The 2025 WSOPP in the Bahamas, in its third year of existence, was bigger than in 2023 or 2024. The $25,000 Super Main Event hit $72 million in the pot, smashing the record $60 million guarantee. High roller events during the bracelet series put on by Triton Poker had impressive turnout, perhaps the reason for the small SHRB field.
It's tough for any poker tour to compete with the World Series of Poker (WSOP). When the WSOP is promoting record guarantees and 15 bracelets to be won in the warm and sunny Bahamas, it isn't easy to convince traveling poker players to choose Las Vegas in December instead.
Why There's No Cause for Concern
Despite the attendance decline in 2025 compared to 2024 (and 2023), turnout was still fantastic. A $10,400 buy-in tournament that didn't take place in the summer — the WPT World Championship — had nearly 2,000 entrants, and an $1,100 buy-in event — WPT Prime Championship — almost hit 10,000 entries. And the World Poker Tour was able to lure all those players in during a major WSOP event elsewhere.
The 2025 WPT World Championship was anything but a failure. It was a huge festival that brought in massive fields to Wynn in the biggest events and also many of the various side events. Two things can be true: Attendance was down, but attendance was still strong.
The 2023 and 2024 WPT World Championship festivals had such strong turnout that the bar was set so high. A drop in attendance isn't cause for concern. It just means that the festival's first few years were such bangers that topping those fields will be tough going forward.
