AGA Announces US Report – The Record Is Broken

In an effort to collect data that will be analyzed to get a clear picture of the state of the gambling market in the United States, it was necessary for the American Gaming Association (AGA) to prepare a Commercial Gaming Revenue Tracker. Using this tool, a detailed report is availed every year and at the end of the fourth quarter. 

In 2022, based on data collected on the various gambling streams in operation around the country, it appears that this has been a good season in a long time. Record revenue heights have been achieved, making 2022 the second year in a row to post similar outcomes.

According to report published by AGA for 2022, an estimated $60.42 billion was earned from various casino outfits during 2022. This data comprises traditional casino games, sports betting, and iGaming, which translates to a 13.9% increase in relation to 2021. When the report is analyzed alongside that of 2019, the growth is even more significant, at 38.5%. Industry experts have tied this performance to a change in player preferences occasioned by restrictions imposed at the height of the 2020 pandemic.

Based on last year’s record industry performance, it is the first time ever that the US gambling market has raised total revenue in excess of $100 billion. The figures are however yet to be confirmed but even if there are disparities, they will not be significant to the outcome. The public will be furnished with the actual report data once details have been confirmed by the National Indian Gaming Commission. 

It is no secret that many people lost their livelihoods in the last two years due to changes in most business delivery models. The challenges arising out of such loss cause inevitable economic pressure on individuals as well as organizations. Even in the face of tough economic winds, the US market managed to record the highest growth ever; this applies to both monthly and quarterly results. 

For the last three months of 2022, the relative growth was captured as 10.5%. The best-performing month of 2022 was December which saw a significant increase of 16.7% in relation to the same period of the previous year. Looking back at the year that just ended, the average monthly revenue has been $5.43 billion.

The performance of iGaming, sports betting, table games, and casino slots has made a significant improvement in both 2021 and 2022. Each of these sub-sectors has individually hit a record revenue level that had not been managed before. For each of these categories, the revenue in focus here was the highest ever. Table games and casino slots account for 79.3% of total commercial gaming revenue, with an income of $47.83. 

Sports betting came in at second position having attained a revenue total of $7.50 billion, which accounts for 12.4% of total income collected from gambling operations in the US. iGaming is pretty new with much of the current popularity drawn from indoor gaming over the pandemic period. This sub-sector managed $5.02 billion, which is 8.3% of total gaming revenue.

Even though the growth of the online gaming industry is taking place in the public space, most Americans still prefer to place their bets in traditional gambling establishments. Brick-and-mortar casinos as well as retail sports betting continue to perform well despite changing trends in the global scene. These betting avenues can therefore not be ignored in the overall computation of gambling in the market. In 2022, the total revenue collected from the two avenues was 80.5%. This is way higher than the combined revenue collected from online casino and sports betting (19.5%).

State wise performance 

When we look at the revenue figures posted from the particular states where gambling is regulated, the revenue from gaming has evidently increased in most of them. 32 states have had positive growth in their earnings out of which 29 managed to collect the highest revenues ever. 

The best-performing sectors in the gambling trade are inarguably table games and slots; this is based on the record $47.83 billion revenue which was a 6.4% increase. Separately, slots revenue increased by 5.1%, while table games increased by 13.9%. Amid the celebrations of growth are jurisdictions where the revenue generation was a drop in performance. The only markets that posted a decrease in revenue from the table games and slots were Michigan, Mississippi, Kansas, and South Dakota. 

At the national scale, based on recently conducted surveys, 34% of adult Americans reported that they had visited a casino in the last year. This is a 6% increase in comparison to those that were reported in the previous year. To bring in the switch of business revenue models pre and post the pandemic, the 2022 performance was 10% less than that of 2019. It appears that the country is yet to fully recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The age of the typical casino visitor in the US averages 42.4 years, which is much lower compared to the age of the casino player in past years. In 2021, it was 43.6, while in 2019, it was 49.6; this continues to go up as time moves further backward. 

The growth in gambling revenue was also witnessed in smaller markets around the country most of which were posting record figures. Despite the prevalence of physical casinos, the rise in popularity of sports betting and iGaming cannot be underestimated. The heat of the pandemic has blown over in most parts of the world so only time will tell if this newfound revenue range will be maintained in future.   

Conclusion

The state of gambling in the United States is an indication that investors have faith in the performance of the market. Considering the high population of people living in America and favorable business conditions, industry experts will continue to witness a growth in revenue in most markets.