Which casinos have the biggest market share in the US?
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We have basically two worlds when it comes to gambling in the US: traditional land-based operators like those famous in Vegas, and Atlantic City and abroad in places like Macau, for example, and online operators.
Traditional casinos have a more steady form of business model, and comparing the evolution of these enterprises across time is easier as there’s more data available.
The online world is a bit more complicated, as online casinos have only been recently legalized in many American states.
Let’s have a look at the recent market share figures of both forms of casino betting in the US.
Understanding how Sports Betting and Casinos are Entangled Business-wise
Some operations are exclusively focused on sports betting, while some online sportsbooks have a casino section, for example, and we also have land-based sportsbooks at large physical casinos too. Therefore, depending on the figures we analyze, it may be a bit hard to separate the two verticals, but mobileuscasinos.com and other sites that are specialists in the topic do a good job of providing interesting insights.
iGaming is a term used to describe both forms of gambling, and depending on the region, poker online betting too. In the US, the term is usually related to sports betting, casino, and occasionally, horse racing betting.
Figures from October 2022 indicate that 3 brands dominate the iGaming world in the US: BetMGM and DraftKings have 52.6% of the North American online casino market, while FanDuel has 16.1%. Almost ¾ of the market is concentrated in 3 brands, but as mentioned, Draft Kings and FanDuel also have a strong presence in the sports betting scenario.
Traditionally, in markets that are more mature online such as Europe, casino preferences of the consumers are spread across several brands, as the only big difference between the houses use to be the current bonus promotions, and sometimes, an outstanding VIP program or customer service, but the vertical is marked by a lack of major product differences between operators.
More variables are usually seen with sports betting. When a bookie sponsors a specific NFL team, an entire city or state may become more inclined to bet with that specific brand due to local activations, and the simple notion that a specific brand is a ‘partner’ of a beloved club.
Land-based US market share of Casinos
National competition between land-based operators (that sometimes also have online operations like MGM), is always a fierce battle. Let’s analize by region.
The top 10 market protagonists as of February 2023 are as follows, sorted by their revenue in the last quarter ranked according to their in-person winnings at table games, slot machines and at-the-counter sports betting, but excluded online sports betting and internet casino games.
- the Las Vegas Strip ($8.2 billion);
- Atlantic City ($2.8 billion)
- Baltimore-Washington D.C. ($2.2 billion)
- Chicago region spanning parts of Illinois and Indiana ($2.1 billion)
- the Mississippi Gulf coast ($1.6 billion);
- New York City ($1.5 billion);
- Philadelphia ($1.4 billion);
- Detroit ($1.3 billion);
- the St. Louis market spanning parts of Missouri and Illinois ($1.1 billion);
- the Boulder Strip in Nevada ($966 million).
As we can see, the traditional regions with land-based casinos remain the market leaders after the pandemic.
Biggest Casino Brands by Market Share: Is America Leading the Casino World?
In terms of global market share, the US is responsible for the biggest holding by market cap, and the 5, 6, 7 and 8 most valuable casino parent companies in the world. We’re talking about Las Vegas Sands, worth $42B (1), MGM Resorts, worth $14.2B as well as GLPI, worth virtually the same, and Wynn Resorts, worth $11B as of May 31. Draft Kings is listed at the 8post worth 10.4B.
As we can see, the US remains extremely relevant when it comes to being the home of 5 out of the 8 biggest holdings of the sector globally.
Even ‘rival regions’ like Macau count on several brands that have their HQs in America, which shows us that the US remains a reference for casino gambling, although some commercial lessons are being imported from Europe when it comes to online betting, as that region has had legal gambling online for a longer time.
