At the end of every year, journalists and other commentators make lists of the top stories of the year. The stories are told from the author’s or the publication’s point of view. The top stories on the New Yorker list do not make the ESPN list. The most important narratives, according to The Wall Street Journal, will not be found in the musings of the National Enquirer. People magazine and National Geographic have different opinions as to the importance and significance of events and trends. Increasingly, the stories featured are the ones that attracted the most readers, viewers, or clicks.
For the first 10 or 15 years of CDC Gaming, Jeffery Compton, Howard Stutz and I picked the winners of the year. For the last 10 years or so, CDC has used clicks to determine the top stories — those most read by CDC readers. Still, I am tempted each year to produce my own thoughts on the subject. It is dark and storming outside, Christmas shopping is over, nothing remains to do in 2025 but to wait for the ball to drop to begin 2026. With the waiting comes contemplation of the year that has passed, looking for meanings and searching for insights into the next years.
In 2025, the storylines that struck me as being most important were prediction markets; New York City; Las Vegas’s struggles; Bally’s here, there, and everywhere; igaming and mobile sports betting; andm from overseas, the United Arab Emirates and Wynn resorts, with Thailand and Japan thrown in for good measure.
The narrative that has gathered the most ink in the latter part of 2025 is prediction markets. Prediction markets are not new. According to Wikipedia, the first recorded wager was in 1503; the event predicted the name of the new pope. For most of its 500-year history, prediction markets have dealt with political or economic events, but that is changing rapidly as the key players look to sports.
The prediction market in the United States is overseen by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Prediction trading resembles other forms of gambling, but to the jaded, so does commodity and day trading on Wall Street. In 2025, the concept has moved into sports betting in a big way. In the process, it has gained the ire of state gaming regulators, casino operators, the American Gaming Association, and the Indian Gaming Association. Lines for a battle of epic proportions are being drawn. On the eve of a new year, it is far from certain whether the prediction marketeers or the regulated gaming establishment will win the war.
Sports betting began to spread in 2018 after the Supreme Court ruled that regulating sports gambling was a power left to the states by the Constitution. Sports betting is an important industry, but in truth, only the mobile version drives revenues significantly enough to make the year-end summary. Combined with remote casino games, mobile wagering may be the most important story of 2025. Mobile sports betting and igaming were not new this year, as both first entered the world in 2018. Since then, the pair have grown exponentially. Today, they represent about 30 percent of total gaming revenue, a percentage that increases every year. The duo are on track to exceed $25 billion in revenue in 2025 and the total amount wagered will probably be close to $300 billion for the year. Mobile sports betting is just about built out, but igaming has lots of room for expansion with only seven states permitting online gambling at the end of 2025.
The conventional casino industry also made headlines during the year, especially stories from Las Vegas and New York City. In Las Vegas, the storyline was of struggle as visitors and revenue decline. The declines generated a persistent narrative about pricing in Las Vegas. The critics and analysts asked, has Las Vegas priced itself out of the market? In New York City, the contest for one of the prized casino licenses dominated the year. There were drama and conflict, threats and promises, candidates doubling down and candidates bowing out. In the end, three licenses were awarded, one to Steve Cohen and Hard Rock, one to Resorts World New York City, and one to Bally’s Bronx.
The Bally’s license in New York City was only one of the multiple storylines about the company over the course of the year. It has land in Las Vegas sprouting weeds, but no building, it is struggling to finish a property in Chicago that has more than its share of critics, it opened a land-based casino in Louisiana, and it bought into and is now the operator of Star Entertainment in Australia; it was indeed a year of Bally’s here, there, and everywhere.
In the outer world, Wynn Resorts is building a multi-billion-dollar resort in the United Arab Emirates. The project is expected to generate huge revenues and change the future of the corporation; it might also open the door to more casinos in the Middle East. Lastly, for much of the year, it appeared that Thailand was going to legalize casino-resorts. The possibility had the major companies in the gaming industry drooling. In the end, the pro-gambling government fell and the idea went from possible to illegal in the blink of an eye. But to give hope to the corporations looking for places for expansion, casinos are back on the agenda in Japan. At least discussing a casino is on the agenda and 2026 may reveal whether it is a realistic hope or a pipe dream.
