Online Casinos offer convenience to many casino players, and this is mainly what makes it attractive even to people who don’t regularly play real money casino games.
In 2021, the American Gaming Association (AGA) estimated that the online gambling market in the US was able to generate over 52 billion USD. This was even after the pandemic, and in fact, there was almost 77% increase over 2020.
That shows how the industry will still continue to grow in the coming years, post pandemic.
So, how’s the industry today now that more states are regulating certain online gambling activities, especially sports betting? We’ll be taking a look at the industry’s numbers and what’s ahead in this article.
Latest AGA Reports on US Gaming Sector
Recently, AGA has finally released the latest numbers in online gaming revenue. According to the report, the US gaming industry has generated over 60 billion USD of revenue and this was from land casino gaming, sports betting, and online gambling.
When compared to the data on the previous year, the gaming industry still grew by 13.9%. AGA reports that sports bettings aw the largest growth in percentage, which was at 72.7% or more than 7.5 billion USD compared to its number in 2021.
The biggest contributors in the sports betting sector are the states of New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland, and Louisiana.
New York is responsible for around 20% of the revenue, while Illinois was able to get ahead of New Jersey which only has 11% of the overall sports betting revenue.
Meanwhile, land casinos still contributed nicely to the overall figure with over 10 billion USD. The brick and mortar sector also grew by 13.9%, and most of these are slots-derived revenue. Based on the report, slots revenue was 5.1% higher and reached a value of around 34 billion USD.
iGaming or online casino gaming was regulated in six states as of last year, but it only took a small part of the overall industry revenue with only 5 billion USD, but there was still a year over year increase for this sector which is at 35.2%.
Those six states with legal online casinos are Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. The states of New Jersey, Michigan, and Pennsylvania are the top contributors to the iGaming revenue.
AGA’s Push to Crack Down Illegal Gambling
The regulated gambling industry in the US is doing great in terms of numbers, but the AGA claims that the illegal gambling market is still winning in terms of revenue. According to the group, illegal operators deprived states around 13.3 billion in tax revenue.
AGA CEO, Bill Miller, said that they will continue the war against unregulated and illegal gambling activities.
Miller said, “What may be at one point in time was a relative nuisance, is now becoming a serious threat to the legal, licensed gaming industry.
“We’re using every tool at our disposal to go after illegal businesses. We won’t see these results overnight, but we’re in this one for the long haul. The illegal market is the single biggest threat our industry faces.”
In a letter he sent to AG Merrick Garland, he expressed how he and the whole AGA are expecting the Congress to do the same and ensure that they prioritize investigations and prosecutions regarding illegal gambling.
Miller also acknowledged that the gambling industry is getting more attention, but he didn’t want to indulge in the negativities surrounding the matter. According to him, negative reports about sports wagering and tribal gaming seem to be “pre-baked.”
FanDuel CEO, Amy Howe, also expressed the same thought regarding illegal operators.
“There are hundreds of illegal or unregulated operators who are taking sports bets every single day. We estimate there’s potentially $15 billion going through some of these offshore operators,” Howe explained.
She said that illegal operators are competing for customers without having to invest in licensing and paying local taxes.
“It gives them an unfair competitive advantage. They can offer better odds to the consumer,” Howe said.
Wrapping Up: AGA’s Action Towards Illegal Gambling
It’s been reported that the AGA is looking to team up with Google and other search engines to stop illegal gambling sites. AGA is also working on helping consumers determine legal and illegal betting sites.
Miller said, “Educating the public that is generally unaware of whether they’re betting on illegal sites or illegal sites is a job for all of us.”
