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There are no dog days of summer for US commercial gaming.
Commercial slots, table games, sports betting, and online gambling combined to generate a record $5.39 billion in gross gaming revenue in July, according to data from the American Gaming Association’s (AGA) Commerical Gaming Revenue Tracker.
Overall US gambling revenue reflects a 5.9% yearly increase
Overall gaming revenue and revenue from slots, table games, sports betting, and online casinos increased year-over-year (YOY), indicating steady growth.
Here’s how the numbers looked, per the AGA:
- Overall revenue: $5.39 billion, up 5.9% YOY
- Slot machine revenue: $3.13 billion, up 3.2% YOY
- Table games revenue: $976.3 million, up 1.7% YOY
- Sports betting revenue: $497.7 million, up 28.4% YOY
- online casino revenue: $481.5 million, up 22.7% YOY
Sports betting saw the biggest jump in annual growth, reaching nearly 30% compared to July 2022. Part of that aggressive growth can be attributed to sports betting launching in two big-revenue states in 2023: Ohio and Massachusetts.
Seasonal travel to Las Vegas and new casinos were primary factors for casino revenue growth. The AGA said in its report:
“The summer expansion in land-based revenue is driven by robust performance of destination markets, with the Las Vegas Strip achieving its highest revenue ever in July and several new regional casinos enjoying their inaugural summer season in Illinois, Pennsylvania and Virginia.”
State-level gambling revenue winners and losers
Among the states for which the AGA had revenue totals, Virginia, Montana, and Oregon posted the most annual growth:
- Virginia: Up 137.8% YOY
- Montana: Up 103.3% YOY
- Oregon: Up 55.9% YOY
While revenue growth was up in nearly every state, 11 markets saw their annual revenue decline. The drop in revenue was 5% or less in all but three states:
- New Hampshire: Down 21.5% YOY
- Maine: Down 9.4% YOY
- Louisiana: Down 9% YOY
Year-to-date numbers remain healthy, too
US gambling generated $37.91 billion in revenue from January to July, up 11% over the same timeframe in 2022.
- Slot machine revenue: $20.84 billion, up 4.7% YOY
- Table games revenue: $5.94 billion, up 1.6% YOY
- Sports betting revenue: $5.46 billion, up 63.1% YOY
- iGaming revenue: $3.45 million, up 22.6% YOY
Online gambling revenue growth was a key driver
Online revenue growth is outpacing land-based revenue growth by a wide margin in monthly and year-to-date totals.
That trend should continue through the end of the year as operators expand their online gambling offerings in the six states that allow online casinos and more states launch mobile sports betting.
New York is leading the charge in sports betting
New York led the nation in sports betting revenue in July, generating $109 million, which was more than the next two states combined:
- New York: $109 million
- New Jersey: $61 million
- Pennsylvania: $39 million
- Ohio: $37 million
- Virginia: $32 million
- Massachusetts: $30 million
- Maryland: $28 million
- Nevada: $25 million
- Indiana and Michigan: $23 million
All other states with sports betting combined for $64 million in revenue.
Online gambling struggles to generate growth
While revenue growth was positive in all four areas, iGaming is struggling to keep up with the numbers it posted earlier in the year.
Revenue has dropped for four consecutive months and is down nearly 10% since it peaked in March, according to the AGA Commercial Gaming Revenue Tracker.
“With four consecutive months of sequential contraction, this is the longest such pullback for the vertical since its expansion beyond New Jersey and Delaware in 2019.”
The US online gambling market underwent a similar contraction from March 2022 to July 2022, dropping 7.1%.
