AGA: January sets single month high after record breaking year

Fresh off the back of a record-setting 2022, the US’ commercial gaming industry has picked up where it left off as revenue swelled year-on-year across all verticals through January.

Subsequently, the 31-day period of the year set a single month revenue record, according to the American Gaming Association’s Commercial Gaming Revenue Tracker.

This saw traditional casino games, sports betting and igaming reach $5.50bn in January 2023, which represents a 21.1 per cent uptick and marks 23 consecutive months of growth.

Online casinos across Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia increased 20.6 per cent to reach $482m, tying a best performance that was recorded in December 2022.

In addition to capturing the largest share (26 per cent) of monthly revenue since the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Connecticut, New Jersey and Michigan also set single month state records.

Nationwide sports betting revenue broke through the $1bn barrier for the first time, which was aligned to the retail and online launch in Ohio on January 1 as well as a retail debut in Massachusetts 30 days later.

As Americans wagered an all-time high $10.9bn, a “surge in betting activity” saw revenue reach $1.02bn. Of this figure, $208.9m was contributed by Ohio, which set a single-month sports betting record for any state.

Elsewhere, revenue from land-based casino slot machines and table games, labelled the “bedrock of the revenue structure” by the AGA, reached $3.99bn in January, marking a 14.3 per cent YoY increase.

Slots generated $2.86nn in revenue, up 15.5 per cent from the previous year, while table games gained 14.7 per cent to reach $838m.

At state level, Washington DC, driven by increased competition, and West Virginia were the only two states of the 33 that were operational one year ago to post a drop in revenue.