US commercial casinos earn record $41.7b in 2018

The US land-based commercial casino sector hit yet another all-time revenue record in 2018, with only two of 24 gaming states not reporting year-on-year growth.

On Tuesday, the American Gaming Association (AGA) released its annual State of the States report, which tracks the performance of the 465 commercial casinos across the US of A. The AGA says total casino gaming revenue hit $41.68b in 2018, a 3.5% improvement over the 2017 report and the fourth straight year of year-on-year growth.

Of the 24 states that had commercial casino operations in 2018, 12 reported record annual revenue in 2018. Only two states – Illinois (-2.4%) and West Virginia (-0.1%) – reported year-on-year declines. State governments’ share of 2018’s record haul was equally record-breaking, rising 31% year-on-year to $9.71b.

Only 18 states separately report slots and table game revenue, but those states broke with tradition by reporting higher year-on-year growth in slots over tables, flipping a script that has held for some time. Slots revenue was up 3.4% in 2018, while tables grew 2.4%.