The Commercial Gaming Industry Achieves New High in Quarterly Earnings, with Players Losing Almost $18 Billion
The commercial gaming sector in the US continues to thrive, raking in record-breaking revenue during the opening quarter of 2024.
The American Gaming Association (AGA) revealed their findings for the January-March timeframe, with a stunning total of $17.67 billion earned from casinos, iGaming, and sports betting. This is an all-time high for any three-month period in history.
This growth is not entirely surprising, given that four new states joined the sports betting market, and Rhode Island introduced legal online casino gambling in March.
According to AGA President and CEO Bill Miller, gaming's robust performance is expected to continue throughout 2024. This comes after years of legalizing sports betting and adapting to changing consumer preferences following the pandemic. However, he emphasized the importance of maintaining a focus on innovation and responsibility moving forward.
In 2023, the gaming industry recorded a staggering $66.5 billion in annual revenue, representing a 10% increase from the year before.
Countrywide Expansion
Eleven states witnessed record gaming revenues in the initial quarter. Notable mentions include New York and Pennsylvania, which serve as two of the country's most lucrative gaming markets.
Traditional gaming, which encompasses physical casinos and their respective slot machines and table games, made up $12.34 billion of the total haul. While this represents a minor 0.3% bump compared to the previous year, it's still an improvement.
Sports betting, now legal in almost 40 states and Washington, D.C., brought in $3.33 billion, a whopping 22% hike from the same period in 2023.
iGaming platforms enjoyed a significant uptick, with $1.98 billion earned from online gamblers, a staggering 26% increase year over year. At this time, online casinos are only available in seven states: Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and West Virginia.
The first quarter of 2024 marked the 13th consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth in gross gaming revenue (GGR) for the commercial gaming industry. The quarter managed to beat out the fourth quarter of 2023, which boasted a total GGR of $17.64 billion.
Nevada remains the wealthiest gaming state, with casinos, sportsbooks, and taverns winning over $3.9 billion during the period. That's a modest 2% jump compared to the previous year. Pennsylvania followed closely, raking in nearly $1.7 billion, a impressive 8% boost, and New Jersey came in third with $1.5 billion, a remarkable 16% increase.
Among the 32 states that boast a commercial gaming presence, only eight experienced a decrease in yearly GGR. These states were Indiana (-2%), Iowa (-2%), Missouri (-4%), Montana (-35%), New Hampshire (-10%), New Mexico (-4%), Ohio (-16%), and Rhode Island (-3%).
Gaming Predictions
Although the gaming industry has experienced explosive growth in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic, executives remain cautiously optimistic about its future prospects.
In a recent survey conducted by the AGA, over 90% of gaming leaders expressed positive sentiments about the industry's current climate, labeling it either "good" or "satisfactory."
Miller previously noted that the market appears to be approaching a phase of normalization after a lengthy period of expansion since the US Supreme Court's ruling in May 2018, which overturned a federal law prohibiting single-game sports wagering outside of Nevada.
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Source: www.casino.org
