Gambling in the United States has boomed since the coronavirus pandemic shrunk revenue to $29.98 billion in 2020, dropping a staggering 31.3% from the previous year.
It has grown so much that gaming—comprised of casino slots and table games, sports betting, and iGaming—set a revenue record in each of the past three years, reaching $66.52 billion in 2023, up 10% from 2022, according to the American Gaming Association. If you include expected tribal gaming revenue from the National Indian Gaming Commission, likely to be released in the summer, that total soars to about $110 billion.
Sports betting and iGaming drove last year's expansion with revenue records and year-over-year increases of 44.5% and 22.9%, while slots and table games also set a revenue record and grew by 3.3%. The jump was spurred by monthly and quarterly records at the end of the year as well, which amounted to $6.22 billion in December and $17.42 billion in the fourth quarter, respectively.
The Las Vegas Strip and Cleveland showed the biggest gains among the top 20 casino gaming markets, while the state leader in growth was Nebraska, which quintupled in growth. Virginia, Oregon, Massachusetts, and Ohio showed outsize development too. Only three states produced less revenue than they had the previous year.
It was a good year for gambling in 2023. To get a clearer picture, ATS.io mapped state-by-state commercial gaming revenue growth in 2023 using year-over-year data from the American Gaming Association.
Thirty-one of the nation's 35 gaming jurisdictions increased their revenue in 2023, and 28 set annual revenue records.
Three of the five states that grew the most—Nebraska (534.7%), Massachusetts (47.3%), and Ohio (42.3%)—began taking sports bets in 2023. The Cornhusker State's growth is unsurprising, however, considering 2023 represents its first full year of casino gambling. Nebraska also opened its first retail sportsbook in June. It raked in almost all its revenue from slots, with three casinos contributing $85 million of $89.1 million via the machines.
Sports betting and increased casino revenue drove much of the growth for the Bay State and the Buckeye State, landing them in the #4 and #5 spots, respectively, based on national growth. Massachusetts and Ohio occupied the #9 and #4 markets, respectively, for sports betting. In addition, Boston's commercial casino growth came in at 4.1% and $759.9 million in revenue, and Cleveland casinos grew a bit more at 5% over the past year and piled up $768 million in revenue.
Just the Las Vegas Strip, which grew at 7.2% over 2023 and earned $8.83 billion, outpaced the two when it comes to casino growth. With these contributions from sports betting and casinos, Massachusetts registered a total of $1.67 billion and Ohio $3.32 billion, making them #14 and #6, respectively, among states when it comes to revenue.
Virginia—like Nebraska, a new gaming market in 2022—had the second-highest rate of year-over-year growth (98%) and ranked #16 among 33 states and the District of Columbia, while Oregon grew at the third-highest rate (53.1%) but was still #31.
Mississippi (minus 3.5%), Indiana (minus 2.3%), and Florida (minus 0.4%) lost revenue compared to last year. The Magnolia State was reportedly hurt by Louisiana's entrance into the online sports betting market, and the AGA also cited "increased cross-border competition" from new Chicagoland casinos for declines in the Hoosier State.
Story editing by Carren Jao. Copy editing by Lois Hince.
This story originally appeared on ATS.io and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
