Strong start to 2022
The US commercial gaming market has had an explosive start to the year. The American Gaming Association (AGA) highlighted figures on Wednesday, revealing $14.31bn in total commercial gaming revenue nationwide for the first quarter. It is a new record for the first three months of a year and is close to surpassing the $14.35bn record quarterly revenue total, set in Q4 last year.?
build on the industry’s record year in 2021
AGA CEO and president Bill Miller believes that strong Q1 results “build on the industry’s record year in 2021 despite continued headwinds from supply chain constraints, labor shortages, and the impact of soaring inflation.” He also spoke about the continuing success of sports betting and how licensed sportsbooks are helping to stamp out illegal offshore operations “who prey on vulnerable customers.”
Impressive numbers
The Q1 revenue total represents an almost 29% year-on-year rise. Of the 34 commercial gaming jurisdictions in the country, 32 of them beat their revenue total from Q1 2021. New York, Florida, and Arkansas hit quarterly records. In March, revenue reached $5.31bn, an all-time high for a single month.?
iGaming and sports betting revenue growth continue to be very strong, both generating all-time high totals in a single quarter. Sports betting gross gaming revenue (GGR) was $1.58bn, a 65% year-on-year rise, while iGaming GGR was up 54% to $1.21bn. By far the biggest revenue generator remains slot machines, contributing $8.19bn of the $14.31bn total.
Building on last year’s success
Also on Wednesday, the AGA released its “State of the States” report, which looks at the commercial gaming industry’s recovery last year from COVID-19 pandemic woes. In 2021, commercial gaming revenue was a record $53bn, smashing the previous record from 2019 by 21.5%. These operations contributed direct tax revenue of $11.7bn to local and state governments last year, a 75% year-on-year rise.
Unsurprisingly, the Las Vegas Strip ruled the roost in terms of the top-performing commercial gaming markets, followed by Atlantic City and Chicagoland. The launch of seven new sports betting markets and two new iGaming markets helped to hit the lofty total revenue sums.