American Gaming Association Reports All-Time High Casino Revenue

• The total revenue within the commercial gaming industry in the US reached a total of $41.7 billion, according to the AGA report.
• Sports Betting in the US is currently active and regulated in eight states. Several states have either legalized the activity this year or are planning to launch sportsbooks soon.
• The American Gaming Association was founded in 1994 and has been advocating on behalf of the gaming industry through research and education since it’s inception.

WASHINGTON – The American Gaming Association (AGA) released their State of the States 2019 Survey of the Commercial Casino Industry on Tuesday and the report came with some jaw-dropping numbers.

The AGA found that US commercial casinos as a whole were able to generate their highest total amount of revenue in a single year in 2018 at $41.7 billion.

The AGA’s report comes one year after the US Supreme Court repealed the federal ban on sports betting known as the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA).

Since then eight states have launched sportsbooks within their borders, several others have legalized the activity this year, and a few other states who have previously legalized the activity are looking to launch sports betting operations later in 2019.

According to the AGA, with the US sports betting market expanding outside of Nevada, the industry saw a year over year growth of 65% which equates to $430.2 million in revenue. In 2019 alone, the industry has seen a 175% increase in sports betting revenue from the previous year.

While the spread of legal sports betting in the US is undeniable, there is also no denying the fact that the American Gaming Association played a large part in its growth.

American Gaming Association’s History With Sports Betting

In 2015, the AGA created a Sports Betting Task Force. This member-only group was put in charge of studying the issues associated with sports betting in the US.

To this day, members across the country continue to meet once a month to discuss ongoing research initiatives. They also strategize on how to go about cultivating stakeholders and allies in the push for legal sports betting.

In 2017, one year before the repeal of PASPA, the American Gaming Association appointed Oxford Economics to conduct a study on the “Economic Impact of Legalized Sports Betting.”

Findings of that research have played a crucial part in supporting the arguments made by proponents of sports betting even two years later. This includes lawmakers across the country.

In that study, it was estimated that between $80 billion to $380 billion is bet on sports through unregulated channels each year. It also estimated that the total fiscal impacts of legal sports betting on local and federal taxes would reach a total of $8.4 billion.

According to the 2019 State of States Survey, $9.7 billion was taxed and paid to both state and local governments last year.

The findings of the American Gaming Association also continue to show how the perception of the activity has changed. In a survey published in January of this year, the AGA found that nearly eight in ten registered American voters support legalizing sports betting in their state.

The AGA has strived for years to push for state regulators to give their residents the ability to bet on sports so that any money going to unregulated outlets could instead be used to help fund local economies.

The Association will be hosting their Global Gaming Expo this October in Las Vegas, NV. Industry leaders from all parts of North America will be in attendance where many of them will be able to see sports betting products in action.

By seeing how this equipment might work in on their casino floors first hand, casino owners may be willing to push their state governments even more for a chance to offer it to their customers.

News tags: American Gaming Association | Global Gaming Expo | State of the States