■ Room and occupancy rates for Southern Nevada’s resorts are improving.

Room and occupancy rates for Southern Nevada’s resorts are improving, boosting visitation by 18.9 percent over January totals, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority reported Thursday.

Totaloccupancywascalculatedat42percent—10.4percentage points better than in

January but still 44.8 points off the total in February 2020.

The increase in visitation to 1.54 million people was still 53.8 percent below year-ago figures, which benefited by having an extra day because 2020 was a leap year.

The convention authority calculated weekend occupancyat62.8percentfor the month, 32.1 percent at midweek, 41.5 percent on the Strip and 37.1 percent in downtown Las Vegas.

The average daily room rate increased 8.1 percent from January to $98.03 but was still 25.8 percent lower than what it was a year ago.

Kevin Bagger, vice president of the LVCVA research center, said room and occupancy rates should get better with

2020 average hold of 11.3 percent,” Santarelli said in a report to investors.

Michael Lawton, senior research analyst for the administration division of the Control Board, said baccarat play was materially affected around the Chinese New Year celebration — typically a busy time for Strip casinos — because of the reduction in international travel during the pandemic.

Lawton said sports wagering also was down, despite a record number of bets taken for February.

Sports pools won $31.8 million, down 16.3 percent from a year ago with the amount of money held by sportsbooks at 5.75 percent compared with 7.74 percent last year.

Lawton said sports wagers made with mobile apps won $10.2 million on $316.2 million in wagers, up 44.4 percent compared with last year, holding 3.23 percent. The amount of bets taken accounted for 57 percent of total wagers.

He said he expects a shift in numbers in the March report next month when current numbers will be compared with a period when casinos were closed for 78 days beginning in mid-march 2020.

“We are looking at the start of the pandemic’s impact on gaming activity due to the suspension of gaming activities which occurred on March 17, 2020,” Lawton said.

“March 2020’s total win was down 13.1 percent, totaling $617.9 million,” he said. “In looking at our average win amount since June’s reopening, which is sitting at $744.4 million, I would expect March 2021 to be up significantly over last March.

“Our understanding is that gaming activity is improving due to improved metrics related to COVID-19, capacity limitations being changed from 35 percent to 50 percent and stimulus checks, which are acting as a catalyst to elevated spending by consumers,” Lawton added.