Helped by the continuing spread of legal sports betting since its legalization in 2018, commercial casinos in the U.S. won $43.6 billion from gamblers last year, an increase of 3.7% from 2018, according to the American Gaming Association, a national trade group.
Twenty-one of the 25 commercial gaming states reported year-over-year increases in annual gross gaming revenue in 2019. Louisiana, however, saw a decline in revenue amid expanded competition in neighboring states like Mississippi, where revenue climbed 2.8% to $2.2 billion. Louisiana saw $2.46 billion in casino revenue, down nearly 4%.
In a report issued late Wednesday, the association said commercial casino revenue has risen for five straight years. Fourteen states—Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and Rhode Island—recorded record high gaming revenue. The commercial casinos were aided in part by the continuing expansion of sports betting, with more than $13 billion wagered legally last year.
The numbers do not include tribal casinos, which report revenue on a different schedule. Last fall, tribal casinos reported revenue of $33.7 billion in fiscal year 2018, up 4.1% from a year earlier.
The industry paid nearly $10.16 billion in gambling taxes in 2019, the first time that figure surpassed $10 billion in the U.S.
Read the full report here, and an Associated Press analysis of the data here.
