American casinos and mobile gaming apps scored a record $54.93 billion in revenue during the first 11 months of 2022. Although the result did not include December 2022, the data collected by AGA – excluding tribal casinos and illegal gambling – show that the 2022 result has already surpassed the 2021 record settled at $53.04 billion by 13.5%.
Senior vice president of the American Gaming Association, Casey Clark, argues that the gaming industry has recovered from the pandemic-induced recession. “To have already surpassed the record numbers we hit in 2021 with a month to spare is really remarkable,” he said.
30 out of 33 US commercial gaming jurisdictions reported continuous revenue growth in 2022 compared to the same periods in 2021. Washington, Mississippi, and South Dakota were the only jurisdictions that closed the year with revenue drops ranging from 1 to 15 percent.
Best category performance:
Across the categories, the US slot and table games performed best to generate $43,79 billion in revenue, which is a 6.7% increase over the same 11-month period in 2021. Sportsbooks generated $6.56 billion from January through November 2022 to score a 65.4% increase over the same period in 2021.
In Nevada, the country’s leading gambling state, the state’s casinos generated $13.5 billion in gaming revenue by November, 10.2% more than the previous record hit in 2021 at $13.4 billion, as the Nevada Gaming Control Board reported. The state has also recorded 21 consecutive months with $1 billion in revenue, with the winning streak likely to extend into the forthcoming months.
Best sports betting market:
Likewise, New York has become the country’s most prominent sports betting market. According to New York State Commission, sportsbooks in the state generated $1.4 billion in revenue out of a total of $16.7 billion of wagers collected through mobile apps to achieve a remarkable result in the market’s first year of operation.
Brendan Bussmann, the managing partner of B Global, a gaming consulting firm, indicated that the gaming industry has recovered and expanded. He also said: “It’s going to continue to percolate and the industry will be in a good position for 2023, regardless of what happens with the economy.”
Cautious optimism about 2023:
This B Global partner expects a minor slowdown in 2023 due to economic trends but believes in further expansion. According to Bussmann, the public’s views about gambling have changed and gambling is considered a form of entertainment rather than vice.
The American Gaming Association looks back on 2022 to remain cautiously optimistic about the future. Against a series of headwinds faced by the US economy over the last few years, the gambling business has continued to expand and grow. Therefore AGA senior vice president Clark said: “I think we’ve got a strong foundation for continued growth.”
