BetComply CEO Daniel Brookes talked to G3 Newswire about the US market. Daniel casts his expert eye across the land-based, sports wagering and igaming sectors in the US. With Maryland and New York working to add iGaming to their mix of offerings, Daniel explains why many states are missing out on additional, more stable revenue streams.
Currently, the land-based casino markets generate the most gaming revenue in the United States, with nearly 50 billion US Dollars in 2023. Within the US, Nevada is the number one generator of revenue due to the sheer number of casinos in this market (225), with Las Vegas being a prominent tourist destination worldwide. Following behind the Nevada Market are the following US States:
- Pennsylvania (3.44 Billion US Dollars)
- New York (3.02 Billion US Dollars)
- New Jersey(2.85 Billion US Dollars)
These four US states will continue to generate the most significant amount of revenue for the US due to the number of casinos in operation and their large populations.
Currently, the sports wagering markets generate the 2nd largest gaming revenue in the United States, with nearly 11 billion US Dollars in 2023. Within the US, New York comes out on top revenue-wise with almost 1.7 Billion Dollars generated. Following behind the Nevada Market are the following US States:
- New Jersey (1 billion US Dollars)
- Illinois (1 billion US Dollars
- Ohio (936.6 million US Dollars)
These four US states should continue to generate the most considerable revenue for the US due to their locations in heavily populated areas.
Currently, with Igaming, they generate the 3rd largest amount of gaming revenue in the United States, with nearly 6 billion US Dollars in 2023. Within the US, New Jersey (1.92 billion US Dollars) and Michigan (1.92 billion US Dollars) come out on top revenue-wise, with Pennsylvania a close third with 1.74 billion US Dollars. These states will continue to generate the most significant revenue numbers due to their market sizes and population density. In these states where Igaming and sports wagering are offered, the revenue numbers generated are much higher than they are with sports wagering, and that is due to the consistent hold of the games provided in Igaming (slot and table games) versus the more volatile hold that occurs with Sports Wagering.
As for the future of Gaming in the current US states with land based gaming, the potential of growth can still occur but will be limited due to factors such as, limits on licensing, commercial viability/profitability of additional casinos, population size of each state, social impacts-that may occur with the addition of new casinos in neighborhoods and a shifting demographic of new adults that are more comfortable with playing on a hand held electronic device such as an Iphone. For the foreseeable future, land-based casinos will continue to be the main stable contributor of the gaming revenue for each US state.
As for sports wagering expansion in these US states, there are many opportunities to add more sports wagering operations in these states. However, the expansion will eventually become more limited due to the licensing, commercial viability/profitability, and demographic size of each state. Despite the lower holds that sports wagering can bring, revenues for sports wagering will continue to grow as the population becomes more conformable with placing sports wagers online and/or in retail locations; however, it will not surpass the revenues that are seen compared to the land-based casinos.
For these existing US markets, the most significant expansion area that can occur is with Igaming (online/mobile slots and table games). This is where many of these states that already have the land-based casinos and sports wagering, except New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Delaware, Rhode Island, and West Virginia, have still not adopted Igaming and are missing out on garnering this additional stable revenue. It appears that the reason for this lack of jumping onto this extra stream of revenue is due to these states focusing on their existing land-based operations, the focus on the adoption/addition of sports wagering operations, the lack of adoption of legislation to add Igaming and some misconceptions of the impact of Igaming. As of this writing, there are a few states that are working to add Igaming to their mix of offerings, such as Maryland, New York, and other states. The addition of Igaming is meeting some intense lobbying from the land based casinos due to fear of cannibalization of their brick and mortar operations, lack of interest from the legislators to allow for Igaming, the misconceptions that Igaming is bad due to the appearance of offering Las Vegas Style slots available to players on their electronic devices causing gambling additions. By not adopting Igaming, these states are missing out on an additional, more stable revenue stream. They are also missing out on bringing in the new demographic of players who are used to playing games on handheld devices and are not keen on playing games in front of a machine in a smoky, noise-filled casino. These states are losing revenue that the gray area sweepstakes casinos are currently capturing to where it is not regulated, and unscrupulous operators can easily victimize these players. This trend of ignoring the addition of Igaming will continue soon and will not change until these legislators find a need to adopt it. It will be seen how long these states will continue to hold off on adopting Igaming, especially in light of a new US administration looking to cut wasteful federal subsidies to these states in the upcoming years, which may cause them to revisit Igaming.
As for the future of land-based gaming in the US in states that currently do not offer it, states such as Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, are to ever to allow for land based Casinos to exist, then there would be another big explosion of land based gaming that would occur. Texas would have the potential to be one of the top 3 markets or the most prominent market due to the sheer size of the state and the number of cities with a large population. Until then, Nevada will always be the king of revenue generation due to the sheer number of casinos in the Las Vegas area. Every year, in many of these states, there is always scuttlebutt of new legislation that would allow for land-based casinos. Still, in many instances, they seldom materialize into any proposed legislation to be voted on and approved.
As for the future of sports wagering in the US states that currently do not offer it such as Texas, Oklahoma, California, Missouri, Minnesota, South Carolina and Georgia, if ever to offer it, then there would be a massive gold rush of new operators to enter the market due to size of these states, especially California and Texas. These states can potentially be the Number 1 and Number 2 in revenues. Of course, in many of these states, every year, there is always a discussion of new legislation that would allow for sports wagering. Still, in many instances, they seldom materialize into any proposed legislation to be voted on and approved.
As for the future of Igaming, with so few markets that have adopted it already (seven in total), there is an excellent potential for growth in this segment. If states like California, Texas, New York, and Florida ever adopt it, they would be the top markets for revenue generation due to their sheer size and population. In many of these states, every year, there is always a discussion of legislation allowing Igaming to be adopted. Still, in many instances, they seldom materialize into any proposed legislation to be voted on and approved.
In general, tribal and commercial land-based gaming is the biggest generator of gaming revenue in the US. It will remain this way for the foreseeable future, with Nevada, Pennsylvania, and New York being the top generators of this revenue. There will be modest growth in this segment. Sports wagering will still be the second generator of revenue in the US in the upcoming years, but expect to see the gap between sports wagering and land-based gaming revenues close as more players migrate towards sports wagering.
As for Igaming, until more states adopt Igaming, the revenues generated will continue to lag behind their sports wagering and land-based casino counterparts. Once the legislation is adopted, this segment will grow the fastest of the three sectors.
