The six largest private-sector employers in the state of Nevada are casino-hotel operators. The state’s largest casino-hotels directly employed 176,000 people during 2010, with the broader leisure and hospitality industry employing 310,000 workers, or 28 percent of Nevada’s 1.1-million-person labor force.

During all of 2010, Nevada businesses reported wage and salary disbursements of $47.1 billion, $9.1 billion of which were sourced directly to Nevada’s hospitality enterprises. Not only do Nevada’s hospitality industry workers earn roughly 35 percent more than their counterparts in other states, they also receive generous health benefits. In fact, Nevada’s hotel-casinos report employer-paid health care costs at 14.2 percent of taxable payroll, nearly double the 7.8 percent reported for all other business tax payers.

When indirect impacts are considered – the secondary employment, wage and economic activity impacts derived from local supplier purchases and employee spending in other sectors of the local economy – more than 40 percent of the state’s jobs and its private sector payroll depend on Nevada’s tourism industry.

The 20 Largest Private Employers in Nevada Rank Company Number of Employees Business Locations 1 MGM Resorts International 53,093 hotel-casino operator 14 2 Caesars Entertainment 25,000 hotel-casino operator 9 3 Wynn Resorts 12,434 hotel-casino operator 2 4 Station Casinos 12,000 hotel-casino operator 18 5 Boyd Gaming Corporation 9,500 hotel-casino operator 12 6 Las Vegas Sands Corporation 8,259 hotel-casino operator 2 7 The Valley Health System 5,000 acute care hospitals 5 8 Kroger Co. 4,300 grocery store operator 43 9 Sunrise Health System 4,300 hospital operator 9 10 Supervalu 3,700 grocery/drug store operator 37 11 St. Rose Dominican Hospitals 3,400 hospital operator 3 12 Walmart Stores 3,200 retail and discount stores 20 13 Treasure Island (TI) 3,000 hotel-casino operator 1 14 Target Corporation 2,700 discount department store chain 16 15 UnitedHealthcare 2,700 healthcare provider, insurance provider 29 16 Southwest Gas Corporation 2,500 utility DND 17 Home Depot 2,200 home improvement stores 12 18 Las Vegas Hilton 2,000 hotel-casino operator 1 19 Lowe's 2,000 home improvement stores 12 20 Sears Holding Corporation 1900 department store chain 12 Note: DND, Company did not disclose its number of locations. Sources: Las Vegas Book of Lists (2011); The Nevada Gaming Abstract (2010); the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation (2010); the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis (2010); Nevada Department of Taxation (2010); Nevada Commission on Tourism (2010); Nevada Gaming Control Board (2010); individual companies and Applied Analysis (2010).