Like many other regions, the gambling industry faced a serious crisis in 2019 because of the pandemic: Many land-based casinos closed due to losses caused by prolonged downtime, and those that managed to stay afloat had to diversify their services to maintain consumer demand.Â
Fortunately, these times are behind us: representatives of the American Gaming Association claim that in the first quarter of 2024, the revenue of the commercial gaming business in the United States reached a record $17.67 billion, which is 5.6% more than for the same time period in 2023. In general, positive dynamics have already been observed for 13 consecutive quarters, which cannot but inspire faith that the local market has stabilized.Â
Looking at the geography of success, to varying degrees, we can note an increase in earnings in the financial reports of eleven from thirty-three states where gambling is legalized. Among the most successful ones are Pennsylvania and New York, which managed to overcome the marks of $1.7 billion and $1.3 billion per quarter.
So, is it worth considering the gambling market in the USA as a potential investment environment? Below, the team of SlotsUp, one of the most reliable casino aggregators in the world, will provide specific numbers to help you delve into this topic and, ultimately, make an informed decision.
Trends in Gambling Revenues
Let’s start with a brief overview of total gambling revenues across several US states:
- New Jersey;
- Nevada;
- Pennsylvania;
- South Dakota;
- Illinois.
New Jersey
If we look at the data that New Jersey published in its financial report for the first quarter of 2024, all nine casinos in this state brought it about $140 million in the first quarter of 2024. This is almost 10% less than for the same time period in 2023, when the revenue reached $155 million. This stagnation was probably affected by the seasonal (winter) decline in consumer demand for gambling, which turned out to be even lower than expected, as well as more active development of this type of business in other states, for example, in New York.
At the same time, the gap with the previous year today looks less sad and has decreased from 10% to 8.7% (which means that by the end of the second quarter, we can expect even more inspiring figures).Â
Nevada
Nevada, like New Jersey, experienced a slight decline in revenue for the first quarter of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023: it amounted to 1.65% ($1.29 billion in 2024 versus $1.31 billion in 2023).
However, the fiscal year (from July 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024) was characterized by positive dynamics in the form of an increase of 4.44%, resulting in a total gambling revenue of 11.9 billion US dollars (versus 11.4 billion US dollars in 2023).
If we talk about the segments that demonstrated the most significant boost, it was table, gambling, and card games: revenue from them increased by 2.54%, amounting to 415.9 million US dollars. At the same time, it is noted that the profit from slot machines and sports betting has become lower this year: in particular, in March 2024 alone, it fell by 3.53%, amounting to 874.5 million US dollars. A similar recession affected sports betting: income from them decreased by 32.13% compared to 2023, amounting to 29.8 million dollars.
Pennsylvania
Unlike the two previous states, this one brought in the second-largest profit among the other thirty-three US states in the first quarter of 2024: it reached a whopping $1.69 billion. This success was primarily impacted by the increased demand for land-based casino services. In turn, online casinos that are legal here brought in about $200 million in the two-month period from February to March.
Overall, given the actively developing infrastructure supporting the gaming industry in this state, we can expect even higher profit figures in the following quarters.
South Dakota
Since the local government of South Dakota publishes its reports only for the fiscal year, we can only refer to the analytics of 07/22-06/23. Specifically, it states that the annual revenue from the gaming industry here was $1.514 billion, which is 0.45% more than in the previous year.
The dynamics of previous years show the following annual increases: -6.13% in the 2020 fiscal year (that is, the industry predictably suffered losses this year), +32.30% in the 2021 fiscal year, and +7.64% in the 2022 fiscal year, respectively. Thus, we can observe the positive development of the gaming sector in this state.Â
IllinoisÂ
The Illinois Gaming Board reported monthly adjusted gross revenue for land-based casinos for March 2024: it was about $31 million, up nearly 25% from the same month in 2023. The bulk of the revenue came from Rivers Casino in Des Plaines, Grand Victoria Casino, and Harrah’s Joliet.
As for slots, their adjusted gross revenue was $115.7 million, while table games brought in $36.6 million. Overall, Illinois has seen solid quarterly growth on a seasonally adjusted basis since fiscal 2020, when almost every state that faced COVID-19 restrictions saw a sharp decline in revenue.
Factors Influencing Growth
Now, let’s take a quick look at the key factors driving the growth of profits from the gaming sector in the US. Formally, they can be divided into three groups:
- Economic factors, including growth of consumer income, ensuring economic stability, and development of the tourism industry;
- Legislative changes and regulatory updates, including adaptation of local legislation to new trends in the gambling sector and its diversification of services;
- Technological advancements, including providing new formats of gaming experience, specifically in the digital plane (for example, using virtual and augmented reality technologies), expanding payment options, and developing mobile gambling.
To one degree or another, all of these factors can be observed in each of the above states, which means that we can expect even higher levels of profits from the gambling sector in the near future.
Key Challenges and Opportunities
When it comes to the US gaming industry as a whole, new opportunities to increase the total budget here can be primarily due to the capture of new markets. For example, in 2023, sports betting was legalized in five new states: Ohio, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Kentucky, and Maine. Thanks to this, sports betting revenue for the US increased by 46.0 percent (which is equivalent to $11.04 billion in total) compared to 2022, when it reached $7.56 billion.
However, geographic expansion turned out to be not the only source of new opportunities: for example, the iGaming sector, without any new benefits in terms of legalization in new markets, brought in $6.17 billion in 2023, exceeding last year’s figures by 28.2%. This can be explained more by the influence of the rapid evolution of digital technologies used in developing solutions for this sector than by any other aspects.
As for the challenges that slow down the growth of the gaming sector, they consist primarily of economic factors: since consumer demand directly affects the income of local casinos and other gaming outlets, an unstable economic situation can negatively affect it and provoke a decrease in the number of visitors over a fixed period of time. Â
Regardless, overall revenue from the US gaming industry has shown a clear positive trend over the past three fiscal years.
| Year | Total revenue in the US |
| 2021 | $53bn |
| 2022 | $60.4bn |
| 2023 | $66.04bn |
Conclusion
We hope that our review has helped you to assess both the general and local situation in the gambling market in the USA: it is gradually expanding, sometimes facing economic obstacles, but, at the same time, supported by an improving regulatory framework and the development of digital technologies. Thus, if the USA does not suffer any serious financial crises in the coming years, we will be able to observe a stable prosperity of this sector, which will make it very promising from an investment point of view.Â
If you would like to receive even more useful information for investing in the gambling industry, welcome to our blog.
