People
love to travel and do so in record numbers as the experiences return. People
also love to gamble.
You
can extrapolate from there.
The
house won big last year, as commercial casinos in the United States won $66.5 billion from gamblers in 2023, the
industry’s best year ever, according to figures released by its national trade
association.
The American Gaming Association said that
total was 10 percent higher than in 2022.
Casinos run by tribal organizations are not
included in that figure. When those are released later this year, it is
expected to push that total over $100 billion.
Despite challenging economic times, people
are willing to spend money to travel and then give it right back to table games
and slot machines.
“From the traditional casino experience to
online options, American adults’ demand for gaming is at an
all-time high,” said Bill Miller, the association’s president and CEO.
As the year passed, "inflation
began to cool, consumers began to spend, and the (Federal Reserve) held rates
steady," he said. “The result was a record-breaking year for our
industry.”
Jane Bokunewicz, director of the
Lloyd Levenson Institute at New Jersey’s Stockton University, which studies the
gambling industry, said sports betting is still new enough that it may prove
attractive even to those watching their budgets.
New Jersey, of course, is home to
several major Atlantic
City casinos, although sports betting online is a relatively new
phenomenon.
“As a form of entertainment, legal
sports betting might be a new and novel experience for many patrons, and with
its relatively low cost of entry, may be attractive to them even if their
discretionary spending budget is limited,” she said.
New Jersey and Illinois exceeded $1
billion in annual sports betting revenue, and New York topped all states with
$1.69 billion. Not surprisingly, those states have major professional and
college sports.
But betting inside a casino instead
of home still appears to be king. And slot machines are the game of choice.
Of that $66.5 billion, slots brought
in more than half of that total, with $35.5 billion. Thirty-five out of the 50
states have at least one commercial casino establishment. And 31 had an
increase in revenue last year. But except for the Washington D.C. market, which
only offers online sports betting, the casinos didn't lose more than 3.5
percent compared to 2022.
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