More People on the Strip in January | Gaming News

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Sin City welcomed only a few more visitors in January compared with the same month last year, but gambling was up big thanks to the Las Vegas Strip.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority said Thursday that nearly 3.2 million visitors came to Las Vegas in January, just under 1 percent more than came during the same month last year.

The roughly 28,000 added visitors weren't enough to make up for added hotel room inventory. Citywide occupancy dropped to 78.3 percent from 79 percent in January 2011.

Clark County gambling revenues of $925 million were up nearly 22 percent year-over-year. The month included the start of Chinese New Year -- one of the biggest gambling weeks of the year.

Average hotel rates were up more than 6 percent.