Casinos Winning Streak

• Nationwide commercial casinos revenues hit records for the second year in a row

• Revenues surpassed last year in the first ten months and exceeded pre-pandemic levels

• Strong growth across traditional casino games, sports betting, and iGaming

Casinos continued to cash in this year after a blockbuster last year, and revenues registered several of the highest-grossing months on record. Nationwide commercial casinos revenues surpassed the previous year in the first ten months and exceeded pre-pandemic levels (2% MoM/ 8 % YoY/ 36% YoY3). Revenues gained from traditional casino games, alongside solid growth in sports betting and iGaming.
 

 

Combined revenue at land-based casinos from slot machines and table games accounted for three-quarters of the overall. Established markets like Nevada did well as Las Vegas was a hot spot drawing visitors for events like music festivals, NASCAR, and conventions. Visitors nearly matched pre-pandemic times while convention attendance surpassed it, which tends to bring in high-profile customers that spend more than leisure visitors per day. Other states, such as New York, Colorado, Maryland, Delaware, Florida, Ohio, and Oklahoma also demonstrated solid results, revealing broad-based expansion.

Revenue displayed strong growth across all verticals, with sports betting and iGaming comprising the remaining quarter. Sports betting benefited from a busy calendar, packed with the NFL, NHL, NBA, and NASCAR. Additionally, more states have legalized it, setting records in existing and new markets. Notably, iGaming has prevailed throughout the re-opening of the economy.

Contrarily, casino operators with an Asian presence, particularly in Macau, were severely impacted by the pandemic as it entered a complete shutdown to tourists (32% MoM/ -11 % YoY/ 85% YoY3). Recently, the six incumbent casino operators were granted provisional licenses by the Macau government to continue operations for the next ten years. Moreover, China’s unexpected COVID policy turnaround dealt the world’s biggest gambling hub a lucky hand.