Annual casino revenue numbers already record breaking, says AGA

Despite that the year is not even over yet.

Gaming revenue at land-based casinos has had a record-breaking year… even though the year is not even over yet. This is according to reports from the American Gaming Association (AGA). 

So far this year – with November numbers not yet reported and December not even halfway over – more than $44.15bn in revenue has been reported at the 987 commercial casinos that dot the United States.  

The first 10 months of this year, then, have already broken the previous record of $43.65bn which was set in 2019, the last ‘normal year’ from which records could be gleaned.   

The love has been felt across the board, with 10 states out of the 25 which allow commercial casinos shattering Q3 revenue records.  

In this period, slot machines and table games saw a combined $34.22bn in revenue while sports betting produced $3.16bn. 

Growth is expected to continue to be strong through to the end of the year, a welcome rebound after the economic carnage wrought by the Covid-29 pandemic.  

As AGA Senior Vice President Casey Clark commented to the Las Vegas Review-Journal: “When full-year numbers are in, we expect commercial gaming revenue to come in around $50n – a remarkable turnaround for our industry that was devastated by Covid-19. Our historic recovery is a testament to gaming’s world-class hospitality and entertainment experiences.” 

The reasons for the boomtimes are diverse, but many are quick to point to certain extenuating factors. Most prominently, there is the pent-up demand theory: people who were trapped in their homes through much of 2020, want to get out, see people, play a little. Then there is the massive amount of cash currently floating around the economy, the result of massive stimulus expenditures on the part of the federal government. Finally, there is the fact that gaming in general is becoming more popular around the nation, the result of the legalization of sports betting in over half of the states in the country (illustrative of this is the fact that sports betting revenue is up 359% over 2019). 

While people note that these factors cannot be in place for ever, they also note that, technically at least, the post-Covid recovery is still underway.

Cameron Saunders

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