US Commercial Casinos Set New Revenue Record

2022 was a very good year for commercial casinos in the US. Gamblers left a total of $60.4 billion in the machines and on the tables giving the house edge its best year ever.

On Wednesday, the American Gaming Association’s (AGA) Commercial Gaming Revenue Tracker showed that land-based gambling accounted for about 80% of the win with online casinos and internet sportsbetting picking up the other roughly 20% of last year’s revenue.

On a nationwide basis, online revenues in America lag behind many European markets. The U.K. is out front with 65% of revenues coming from iGaming, France at about 29%, and Germany at roughly 28%. Drawing in from the U.S. macro to the four states that offer commercial gaming on land and online, online revenues averaged 40.7 percent of the totals.

Regulated U.S. commercial online casino revenue grew to about $5 billion – an increase of 35.2%. Six states currently offer internet casino gambling: Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and West Virginia. New bills are moving through the legislative process in five more states to legalize online gambling. Those states are Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, New Hampshire, and New York.

US Commercial Casinos Won over $60 Billion in 2022

The more than $60 billion casinos won last year is almost 14% more than 2021 totals.

Tribal casinos and state lotteries report their numbers separately, but if fourth-quarter and full-year numbers hold up for tribal operators it could push the total for the US industry past $100 billion, a new record of its own if that occurs. The National Indian Gaming Commission will release its 2022 revenue report later this year.

According to an Associated Press report by Wayne Parry in the Concord Courier, AGA vice president David Forman said that number would put the American gambling industry revenue about on par with U.S. revenues from the sale of beer.

Bill Miller, the association’s president, and CEO said: “Our industry significantly outpaced expectations in 2022. Simply put, American adults are choosing casino gaming for entertainment in record numbers, benefiting communities and taking market share from the predatory, illegal marketplace.”

VP Forman added: “That growth is almost the equivalent of adding another Las Vegas Strip to the U.S. market.”

While Chicago, the Mississippi Gulf coast, and Baltimore-Washington, D.C. markets also produce healthy revenues, the Las Vegas Strip and Atlantic City reign supreme as the top-performing U.S. gambling markets.

Although Nevada lawmakers legalized online casino gambling about the same time New Jersey did, regulators have purposefully neglected to enact a regulatory framework for them, instead opting to only regulate sports betting and poker online.

How the States Stacked Up

That may be the reason online sportsbetting and iGaming numbers are not reported in the AGA tracker rankings when including the legacy Las Vegas Strip and other Nevada markets.

Ranked from 10 through 1, along with their take we find the following:

Boulder Strip in Nevada ($966 million +/- = to last year) St. Louis market spanning parts of Missouri and Illinois ($1.1 billion + 3.6%) Detroit ($1.3 billion – 1.4%) Philadelphia ($1.4 billion – 1.8%) New York City ($1.5 billion + 2.6%) Mississippi Gulf coast ($1.6 billion – 0.5%) Chicago region spanning parts of Illinois and Indiana ($2.1 billion + 6.1%) Baltimore-Washington D.C. ($2.2 billion + 8.7%) Atlantic City ($2.8 billion + 8.5%) Las Vegas Strip ($8.2 billion + 17%)

In a turn-around from historic trends, revenue from land-based gaming tables was up 13.9% while the slots take increased by 5.1%.

About one-third of the U.S. adult population made at least one visit to a casino in 2022.

Sports betting continued to grow with 36 states (and D.C.) offering legalized sports betting in 2022 and the AGA predicting that it will be available in 40 states by the end of this year.

Source: US casinos hit high mark, Concord Monitor via AP, February 18, 2023

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