Despite the inflation and economic crisis that had a significant impact on the country’s economic situation, America’s casino industry had the best year ever.
Significant success:
As the country’s national trade association reports, the commercial casinos earned $66.5 billion in 2023. According to the American Gaming Association, that amount represents a 10% increase compared to the results from 2022, and back then, 2022 hit the record when it comes to revenue.
The figures don’t include the revenue tribal-owned casinos generated. These numbers will be released later in the year, but it is expected that all casinos in the country generated almost $110 billion last year.
Bill Miller, the President and CEO of the association, said: “From the traditional casino experience to online options, American adults’ demand for gaming is at an all-time high.”
In December, the revenue was $6.2 billion, which was the highest amount in history, and the figures from the fourth quarter also hit a record – the casinos earned $17.4 billion.
According to the director of the Lloyd Levenson Institute at New Jersey’s Stockton University, Jane Bokunewicz, sports betting attracts a lot of customers. As a new form of gambling in the US, it might draw the attention even of those who have limited budgets.
However, the most revenue comes from in-person gambling. Only from slot machines, the country earned $35.51 billion last year, which is 3.8% more than in 2022. Table games generated $10.31 billion, which represents an increase of 3.5%.
Sports betting revenue increase:
A new form of gambling in the States, sports betting, brought in $10.92 billion, which is a huge increase of 44.5% compared to the previous year. Legal channels saw $119.84 billion in wagers, 27.8% more than in 2022.
The increase partly came as a consequence of the legalization of sports betting in five markets: Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Nebraska, and Ohio. Five new markets brought in $1.49 billion. But that’s not all – Massachusetts and Ohio placed themselves among the top 10 states with the highest revenue.
Online gambling brought in $6.17 billion, 22.9% more than in 2022, and the leading markets were Michigan, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
The country earned $14.42 billion from taxes, which is an increase of 9.7%.
According to the Associated Press, the top performers were Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Atlantic City. Nevada earned $15.5 billion in revenue, Pennsylvania brought in $5.86 billion, and Atlantic City generated $5.77 billion.
Currently, 35 states are allowed to have commercial casinos. Among them, 31 recorded an increase in revenue. The only states in which the revenue dropped were Florida, Indiana, and Mississippi, as well as Washington D.C., where the only form of gambling is sports betting, and it has a significant decrease of 17.6%, which is the biggest drop in the whole country.
