The American Gaming Association has published its latest Commercial Gaming Revenue Tracker, providing state-by-state and nationwide insight into the performance of the United States’ gambling industry. The August results suggest that the US gaming industry might be in for a third record-breaking year in a row.
As reported by the AGA, casino gambling industry revenue continued to grow, while gaming revenue as a whole increased by 4.9% in August. According to the association, this marks the 30th consecutive month of year-on-year growth.
Leveraging data from state regulators, the AGA concluded that the US gaming industry exceeded the $5 billion mark for the twelfth month in a row, sitting at $5.14 billion in August. The first eight months of the year, meanwhile, saw the industry accumulate revenue of $43.15 billion. This figure notably marks a 10.4% YOY increase.
Growth wasn’t universal, however. According to the report, 17 of the 33 states with commercial gambling markets saw their revenues increase. Meanwhile, six markets recorded marginally lower results. These included DC (-0.7%), Florida (-0.9%), Indiana (-1.2%), Iowa (-0.5%), Missouri (-0.3%) and Mississippi (-3.7%).
All Verticals Reported YOY Growth
The AGA also provided an insight into how the separate verticals fared. The association attributed the vast growth to the iGaming sector and pointed out that land-based gaming revenue growth has been experiencing a slight slowdown.
For reference, in August, land-based casinos and sportsbooks experienced a revenue increase of 0.8% year-on-year. Their online counterparts, meanwhile, saw their revenue skyrocket by 24.6% year-on-year. The AGA noted that Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Ohio were major growth drivers.
Traditional slots and table games are experiencing slower growth but are still responsible for much of the traditional casinos’ revenue. In August, these segments generated $4.06 billion in revenue, which represents a modest 1.1% YOY increase. Slot machines were responsible for almost three-quarters of that number.
During the first 8 months of the year, traditional slots and table games have generated $33.03 billion, surpassing last year’s figure for the same period by 3.3%.
The off-season period in professional sports, meanwhile, led to the usual decrease in revenue. Despite that, the figures exceeded the ones recorded in the summer of 2022, attesting to the increased interest in betting.
In total, sports betting handle for August was $6.67 billion, up 36.1% YOY. This translated into total revenue of $583.1 million, which is 21.2% higher than what the industry recorded in April 2022. This figure was bolstered by the recent launch of betting in additional states.
Through August, sports betting in the USA recorded revenue of $6.14 billion, a stellar 60.4% up YOY. Handle for the same period reached a whopping $68.23 billion. According to the AGA, these figures mean that betting handle is likely to surpass the $100 billion mark by the end of the year.
Finally, the AGA reported that the six states where online gambling is legal saw revenue from the vertical increase by 23.4% YOY to $495.8 million. Delaware was the only of the six markets that failed to report growth.
Through August, iGaming revenue reached $3.94 billion, representing a YOY increase of 22.7%.