U.S. commercial gaming hit a new high for the fourth year in a row, generating $72 billion in revenue, a 7.5% increase from 2023. It was fueled by igaming and mobile sports betting, according to a report released Tuesday by the American Gaming Association.
Some 28 out of 38 states set new annual records. North Carolina and Vermont reported commercial gaming revenue for the first time after launching mobile sports betting. Commercial gaming contributed $15.9 billion in tax revenue to state and local governments, according to the “2025 State of the States Report.” That’s an 8.5% increase over 2023.
The report was released as the Gaming Conditions Index (GCI) showed that while economic activity in the industry contracted in the first quarter relative to the prior year, gaming-equipment manufacturers signaled renewed confidence across unit sales and capital investment. That was the first positive outlook since the third quarter of 2023. In addition, nearly half of casino executives expect revenue growth to speed up over the next six to 12 months and many plan to ramp up capital investments, according to the AGA’s “Gaming CEO Outlook.”
Some operators, such as Wynn Resorts, have announced plans to halt renovations until they better know the impacts of tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.
Overall, gaming-executive sentiment improved slightly, but remained marginally negative, the “Outlook” said. Slightly more respondents gave negative responses than positive in answer to a range of questions pertaining to business situation, revenue growth, customer activity, and other metrics.
The economic forecast is mixed, but doesn’t yet anticipate a recession, according to the “Outlook.” Tariffs are expected to increase the Consumer Price Index to 3.6% this year from 3% last year. Combined with recent stock market declines, household sentiment is pulling back, likely presenting a headwind to discretionary spending.
There is good news. Casino hotels are receiving RFPs for meetings and events at rates that surpass pre-pandemic levels, with a slight year-over-year uptick of 0.3%.
The recent reading from casino executives is an improvement relative to the third quarter of 2024, as expectations around capital investment, revenue growth, and customer activity have improved. However, the score is worse than the sentiment one year ago, with the decline driven largely by negative views around the current business situation.
The U.S. economy is digesting multiple shocks, including tariffs, uncertainty, supply chain stress and tighter financial market conditions, the “Outlook” said.
Oxford Economics’s April baseline outlook assumes average tariff rates will remain at or near current levels, with an extension of the 90-day pause on certain April 2 tariff increases, resulting in a shock to the U.S. economy, but not outright recession. In this outlook, real disposable income expands 2.4% year over year by the first quarter of 2026, indicating household incomes outpacing stronger inflation. On the other hand, household wealth declines 7% and real spending on services slows to just 1.4%.
Despite current pessimism, executives’ longer-term outlook improved: 14% responded with a positive future business outlook, 82% responded with a neutral outlook, and 4% responded with a negative outlook. This reflects expectations that revenue will grow more in the next six to 12 months than it did in the previous six to 12 months (46% positive, 28% neutral, 25% negative), the Outlook said.
Expectations around capital investment were markedly higher: 41% of executives expect the pace of capital investment to increase compared to 19% who expect a decrease. Executives continued to identify hotel and food and beverage facilities as the most likely areas for investment, although the shares were lower than in the third quarter of 2024.
Executive sentiment around future customer activity improved to its highest level since the first quarter of 2022, with 29% expecting an increase. Insufficient customer demand, chosen as a factor limiting operations by 22% of executives in the third quarter of 2024, was reaffirmed by only 11% of executives in the first quarter of 2025.
“Like others, AGA member companies face a landscape where consumers’ discretionary activities will be tested by tariffs on imported goods and stock market setbacks,” the “Outlook” said. “However, even as near-term executive views have darkened, their longer-term outlook is more positive, reflecting hope that the current uncertainty will be resolved sooner than later.”
Across the 492 commercial casinos around the country, revenue from traditional casino games grew by 1% in 2024 to a record $49.89 billion.
Legal sports betting launched in North Carolina and Vermont in 2024, helping drive commercial sports betting revenue up 24.8% to $13.78 billion, as Americans legally bet a total of $149.9 billion on sports throughout the year.
The igaming market also continued its strong growth in 2024, with combined igaming revenue from seven active states (excluding Nevada’s online poker-only market) reaching $8.41 billion, a 28.7% increase year-over-year. That total includes $26.3 million in revenue from Rhode Island, which launched igaming in March and was the first new market to open since Connecticut in late 2021.
Among the states with big gaming revenue gains were Arizona, 27%; Connecticut, 31.3%; Illinois, 15.8%; Kentucky, 148%; Main, 14.9%; Michigan, 17.1%; Oregon, 24.5%; Tennessee, 24.8%; Virginia, 27.1%; and Wyoming, 31.8%.
Montana had the biggest gaming revenue decline at 15.6% followed by New Mexico at 3.5%. Missouri had a 2.1% decline while Mississippi fell 2%. Iowa fell 1.7%, New Hampshire fell 1.5% and Ohio fell 0.9%.
