The American Gaming Association (AGA) reported on Thursday that gamblers lost more money than ever during the July through September period. The total loss of $17.71 billion represents an 8.1% year-over-year increase, marking the commercial gaming industry’s 15th consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth.
That’s the positive news. Now for the less encouraging part.
Despite the overall rise in gaming revenue, legacy gaming interests and brick-and-mortar casinos faced challenges. The AGA report showed that casino revenue from in-person gamblers declined nearly 1% to $12.38 billion.
“Traditional brick-and-mortar casino gaming revenue contracted annually by less than 1% in the third quarter, with slot machines and table games generating $12.38 billion in revenue. Brick-and-mortar revenue decreased year over year in two of the three months in Q3, only rising in August,” the AGA summary read.
The decline was mainly due to table games, as slot revenue increased by 1.3% to $9.1 billion. Nationwide, table hold was just 20%, marking the fourth consecutive quarterly decline. Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) from table games dropped 8.3% to $2.42 billion during the quarter.
The remaining $860 million in legacy revenue came from retail sportsbooks, poker rooms, and other casino gaming such as bingo.
The losses at physical casinos were offset by online gains, where internet casinos and mobile sportsbooks saw significant revenue growth.
During the three months, regulated online casino gaming in Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and West Virginia surged 30% to $2.08 billion. Sportsbook revenue also grew, totaling $3.24 billion, up 42% from Q3 last year.
Through the first three quarters, iGaming revenue in just seven states exceeded $6 billion, up 27.2%. This accounted for 16.2% of the $37.2 billion won by physical casinos in 27 commercial gaming states. Rhode Island became the seventh iGaming state when Bally’s Casino online platform launched in March.
Each of the six iGaming states with 2023 comparisons saw year-over-year growth in Q3, with Delaware leading at 393%, driven by the Delaware Lottery’s new iGaming partner, Rush Street Interactive. The other five pre-existing iGaming markets experienced annualized quarterly growth of 25-68%.
Sports bettors lost $9.96 billion through nine months, 33.6% more than at the same point last year. This figure marks a new sports betting revenue record for Q3, as the market stabilized with no new states launching sports betting this year.
Missouri is expected to become the 39th legal sports gambling state next year after state voters approved sports betting through a statewide ballot referendum on November 5.
With nine months of 2024 completed, all commercial gaming segments are positive, with traditional casino GGR up 0.4% despite a challenging Q3. While some Americans are cutting back on leisure spending due to inflation, the gaming industry continues to grow.
“Through the first nine months of the year, nationwide commercial gaming revenue stands at $53.24 billion, pacing 8.0 percent ahead of 2023 and putting the industry on track for a fourth straight record revenue year,” the AGA concluded.
