Gamblers lost $5.3 billion to US casinos in March
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The American Gaming Association (AGA), the US national gambling industry’s trade group, announced today that the commercial casinos in the United States won over $5.3 billion from gamblers in March of this year, the best single-month total ever.
The previous US casinos’ record month was July of 2021 with $4.92 billion.
US casinos collectively also had their best first quarter ever, falling just short of the $14.35 billion they won from gamblers in the fourth quarter of 2021, which was the highest three-month period in history.
According to the trade group report, US inflation may be spiking, supply chains remain snarled, and the COVID-19 just won’t go away, but American casinos are humming along just fine.
“Consumers continue to seek out gaming’s entertainment options in record numbers,” said Bill Miller, the AGA’s president and CEO. He said the strong performance to start 2022 came “despite continued headwinds from supply chain constraints, labor shortages and the impact of soaring inflation.”
The trade group also released its annual State of the States report today detailing gambling’s performance across the country.
Three states set quarterly revenue records to start this year: Arkansas ($147.4 million); Florida ($182 million), and New York ($996.6 million).
The numbers do not include tribal casinos, which report their income separately and are expected to report similarly positive results.
But while the national casino economy is doing well, there are pockets of sluggishness such as Atlantic City, where in-person casino revenue has not yet rebounded to pre-pandemic levels.
US commercial casinos paid a record $11.69 billion in direct gambling tax revenue to state and local governments in 2021. That’s an increase of 75% from 2020 and 15% from 2019.
This does not include the billions more paid in income, sales and other taxes, the association said.
The American Gaming Association also ranked the largest casino markets in the US in terms of revenue for 2021:
The Las Vegas Strip is first at $7.05 billion, followed by: Atlantic City ($2.57 billion); the Chicago area ($2.01 billion); Baltimore-Washington, DC ($2 billion); the Gulf Coast ($1.61 billion); New York City ($1.46 billion); Philadelphia ($1.40 billion); Detroit ($1.29 billion); St Louis ($1.03 billion); and the Boulder Strip in Nevada ($967 million).
The AGA reported that many states saw gamblers spending more in casinos while visiting them in lower numbers compared to pre-pandemic 2019.
The average age of a casino customers last year was 43 1/2, compared to 49 1/2 in 2019.
Americans bet $57.7 billion on sports last year, more than twice the amount from 2020. That generated $4.33 billion in revenue, an increase of nearly 180 percent over 2020.
Internet gambling revenue reached $3.71 billion last year, and three states — New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan — each won more than $1 billion online. West Virginia’s internet gambling market reached $60.9 million in revenue in its first full year of operation, while Connecticut’s two internet casinos reported combined revenue of $47.6 million after launching in October.
