The American Gaming Association has stated that US commercial gaming has continued progressing towards a monumental year after July’s revenue numbers saw traditional casino games achieve an all-time monthly record.
However, igaming revenue continues to decline, falling by almost 10 per cent in comparison to the highs seen earlier this year.
According to the AGA’s Commercial Gaming Revenue Tracker, the industry generated a total GGR of $5.39bn, up 5.9 per cent year-over-year.
Yet, the AGA noted that the annual revenue growth pace has continued to decline nearly every month of 2023 so far, due to “more normalised post-pandemic annual comparisons which will persist going forward”.
However, year-to-date, commercial gaming revenue currently stands at $37.91bn, outpacing 2022’s record-setting pace by 11 per cent in comparison to the previous year.
At the state level in July, 21 out of the 31 commercial gaming states that were operational one year ago and have complete data posted year-over-year revenue growth.
As for through the first seven months of the year, only five jurisdictions are behind their GGR numbers from the same point the previous year – Florida (-0.8 per cent), Indiana (-0.5 per cent), Iowa (-0.1 per cent), Louisiana (-0.1 per cent) and Mississippi (-3.8 per cent).
A new all-time monthly record was achieved by traditional casino gaming in July, as the segment earned $4.4bn in GGR thanks to “seasonal travel trends and the addition of several new physical casino properties”.
Online operations – online sports betting and igaming – increased by 25.2 per cent in July in comparison to the previous year, while retail offerings – retail sports betting, slot machines and table games – only rose by 2.5 per cent across June and July.
AGA attributed land-based improvements to the “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”.
Taking a closer look at traditional casino, slots generated $3.13bn, up 3.2 per cent YoY, while table game GGR improved by 1.7 per cent YoY to $976.3m.
Through July, combined revenue from casino slot machines and table games totalled $28.97bn, up 3.6 per cent YoY, with 21 out of 26 commercial gaming states with land-based casinos posting YoY revenue growth – Florida, Iowa, Mississippi, Indiana and Louisiana were the only states to see declines.
Sports betting and igaming achieved their best July revenues ever. Sportsbooks generated $497.7m GGR in July across 27 commercial markets, up 28.4 per cent from the same period last year when only 25 markets were live. Through July, sports betting revenue stands at $5.46bn, up 63.1 per cent YoY.
The six states where igaming is live – Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia – reported a July GGR of $481.5m, a 22.7 per cent improvement in comparison to the previous year.
However, igaming GGR has fallen by 9.9 per cent in comparison to the highs seen in March. YTD, igaming revenue stands at $3.45bn, a 22.6 per cent increase YoY.