US Casinos Win $3.4 Billion in January 2017

The media are used to reporting on the fortunes of various individual casino markets across the USA, but the latest report released by the University of Nevada Las Vegas Center for Gaming Research (UNLV) has provided us with a more holistic picture of the overall state of the country’s gaming industry.
According to the American Gaming Association (AGA) there are around 500 commercial casinos spread out across the USA, with the UNLV data revealing that they generated combined revenues of $3.38 billion in January, marking a 3.56% improvement compared to the same month in 2016.
Leading the market was Nevada, whose revenues of $1.04 billion in January was 12% higher than the previous year, while Maryland produced the biggest year-on-year growth of 43%. West Virginia, on the other hand, experienced the biggest contraction, with its business falling 15%, mostly due to a gaming expansion taking place in nearby Ohio and Maryland.
The extent of Nevada’s dominance of the casino industry also came as a little bit of a surprise, with the Silver State’s revenues worth more than the next four largest markets, namely Pennsylvania ($253m), Louisiana ($241.3m), Illinois ($206m), and New Jersey ($204.7m).
In the meantime, the USA’s smallest four markets in January were Kansas ($28.1m), New Mexico ($18.9m), Oklahoma ($8.7m), and South Dakota ($6.7m).
However, it is important to remember that these figures only include commercial casinos, and not Indian owned interests, such as in California where tribal gaming generates around $4 billion each year. In fact, they produce a combined $30 billion in annual revenues, compared to around $40 billion for commercial venues. From that tally, Nevada accounted for $11.3 billion of revenues, followed by Pennsylvania ($3.2bn), and Louisiana ($3.1bn).  Maryland also posted the largest increase in annual earnings, with the market growing by 9.55% y-o-y to $1.2 billion.
Internet gaming, too, is beginning to make its mark on the industry, and in 2016 the country’s three regulated iGaming markets collected around $200 million, or roughly 5% of the country’s total casino win.