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USA Commercial Gaming Scene Tops Record $60 Billion GGR in 2022
By Jeff Osienya Feb 19, 2023 IndustryAmerica’s commercial gaming scene registered yet another record-breaking calendar year in 2022 with a stellar $60 billion GGR. Join us as we dive deeper into last year’s gaming industry performance, as AGA’s Commercial Gaming Revenue Tracker reported.USA’s commercial gaming scene is booming and is growing faster than ever before, according to the Commercial Gaming Revenue Tracker (CGRT) from the American Gaming Association (AGA). AGA’s latest report from its CGRT indicates that the nationwide commercial gaming revenue for 2022 topped the $60 billion mark for the very first ever.
The $60.1 Billion mark reflects a 13.9% jump over 2021’s figures and a remarkable 38.5% boost compared to 2019’s figures. Moreover, assuming that AGA’s VP David Forman is right with his projection that tribal casinos will rake in roughly $41 billion, USA’s entire gaming scene is anticipated to break through the $100 billion mark. The tribal gaming revenue stats will be released later in the year as their data is compiled separately.
Zooming in on the quarterly and monthly pictures, the year was punctuated with an all-time high quarterly revenue of $15.85 billion recorded in Q4 of 2022, which was a 10.5% uptick year-over-year. December’s figures also shattered the record for the best-ever monthly revenue with a $5.43 billion haul, a 16.7% rise from 2021. Speaking on the remarkable figures reported, the AGA’s president Bill Miller remarked:
Quote“Our industry significantly outpaced expectations in 2022. Simply put, American adults are choosing casino gaming for entertainment in record numbers, benefiting communities and taking the market share from the predatory illegal marketplace. Even as we navigate macroeconomic headwinds, I am optimistic about the year ahead. To carry our momentum into 2023, the AGA remains focused on combating the illegal market, doubling down on responsibility, and creating favorable policy and regulatory conditions that enable our industry’s sustained success.”
The Usual Suspects Continued to Produce Heavyweight Numbers
With Arizona, Connecticut, Virginia, and Wyoming registering their first full year of revenues, most states logged fantastic results in 2022. Thirty-two commercial gaming revenue jurisdictions posted improvements to their 2021 figures, and 29 set new annual revenue records, signifying just how good 2022 was for the industry.
The states mentioned above that reported their annual revenues for the first time, alongside Nebraska, are some of the 29 states that registered yearly records. Conversely, Mississippi and South Dakota saw their annual revenues decrease by 3.6% and 2.2%, respectively, compared to the previous year. According to the AGA report, the slight slide was attributed to the fact that the two states dropped pandemic restrictions earlier than the rest of the country in 2021.
Meanwhile, Washington, DC, continued to bear the brunt of its sports betting-only legislation, continuously falling behind its Maryland and Virginia neighbors. Meanwhile, as expected, most of the bigwig commercial gaming states generated the most revenue last year. Such jurisdictions include New York, Nevada, Michigan, Louisiana, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, just to mention a few.
Further, the top commercial gaming markets continued their upward trajectory in the post-pandemic era, with 14 out of 20 of the big boys registering growth in their year-over-year performances. Of the said commercial gaming juggernauts, the top 10 markets in 2022 were:
- The Las Vegas Strip – $8.2 billion revenue, a 17% boost
- Atlantic City – $2.8 billion revenue, an 8.5% jump
- Baltimore (Washington DC) – $2.2 billion revenue, an 8.7% improvement
- Chicago Region – $2.1 billion revenue, a 6.1% soar
- Mississippi Gulf Coast – $1.6 Billion revenue, a 0.2% downturn
- New York City – $1.5 billion revenue, a 2.6% surge
- Philadelphia – $1.4 billion revenue, a 1.8% slip
- Detroit – $1.3 billion revenue, a 1.4% slide
- St Louis market – $1.1 billion revenue, a 3.6% increase
- The Boulder strip in Nevada – $966 Million, same as 2021
Land-Based Gaming Brought in Most of the Revenue
In-person casino gaming continues to dominate as the most significant contributor to the overall commercial gaming revenues of the USA’s commercial gaming scene. Land-based casinos contributed about 80% of the total revenue in 2022. Online betting, which is gradually gaining popularity as the years go by, contributed about a fifth, or 20%, of the entire 2022 GGR.
Additionally, as has been the norm for quite some time now, slot machines were the largest money earners, raking in over half of the total revenue at $34.2 billion. Compared to 2021, land-based slot machines generated 5.1% more business. Table games came in next with a $10 billion revenue which is 13.9% higher than last year’s performance.
Ultimately, the stellar performances of slot machines and table games trickled down to the overall market performances. AGA’s report cited that most markets containing these two gaming verticals experienced year-over-year growths save for Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, and South Dakota. The said quartet suffered 0.5%, 0.8%, 2.6%, and 3.6% year-on-year declines for the brick-and-mortar gaming verticals, respectively.
The report also sighted that more and more younger people are increasingly interested in brick-and-mortar casino gaming. Per the recorded stats, the average age of casino goers went down to 42.4 years in 2022, a reduction from 2021’s 43.6 and 2019’s 49.6 years.
Sports Wagering and iGaming Experience Exponential Growths
Even with the continued dominance of land-based casinos in the gaming scene, sports betting and iGaming still had notable improvements worth mentioning e in 2022. Nationwide sports wagering revenue recorded a remarkable 72.9% surge in 2022 compared to the year before, leaping from $4.34 Billion to $7.5 billion.
The significant jump can be attributed to new sports betting and iGaming markets such as Maryland, Louisiana, and particularly New York – which saw shining numbers in 2022. In addition, all sports wagering markets posted significant improvements in their revenues except Delaware and Mississippi, which recorded 32.3% and 9.2% dips, respectively.
iGaming independently garnered $5.02 billion worth of revenue, thwarting its previous year’s haul by 35.2% even though no new iGaming markets entered the scene in 2022. This, therefore, means that the five existing iGaming markets performed extraordinarily well, each shattering their all-time annual revenue records. Moreover, with five new states introducing bills to legalize internet gaming, the figures in 2023 are expected to be even more impressive, probably double what 2022 experienced.
While the iGaming market is gradually growing, and online sports wagering is slowly being embraced, the contribution of iGaming revenue to the total is still low. Compared to other countries like the UK, France, and Germany, revenue from online gaming platforms contributed 69%, 29%, and 28% in the past year. This is a sign that there is a need to bring more US jurisdictions into the online gaming scene.
AGA’s report forecasts up to 40 states will have legalized sports betting within their jurisdictions in 2023. If this trend is anything to go by, we should expect even more impressive numbers this year.
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