This week, the American Gaming Association issued its annual report. It confirmed that commercial gambling continues to thrive in the U.S. For 2024, the country registered a new annual gaming revenue record of US$71.9 billion. This shattered the previous record from 2023, when proceeds were at US$66.5 billion.
Founded in 1994, the American Gaming Association is a national trade group representing the U.S. gambling industry. Its objective is to provide guidelines and an environment for legal and regulated gaming. AGA consists of various stakeholders, including commercial and tribal operators, gaming suppliers, financial institutions, and other industry representatives.
Record-Setting Numbers
This week, AGA held its State of the Industry call, which revealed that in 2024, the U.S. posted a new record for gambling revenue. For the whole of 2024, all of its states contributed to US$71.9 billion. Also, 2024 was highlighted by the country’s best-ever single-quarter revenue, with US$18.62 billion in Q4.
Traditional casino games contributed to US$49.78 billion of the gross gaming revenue for the year. Meanwhile, sports betting delivered US$13.71 billion, while iGaming generated US$8.41 billion. All three segments had an increase on a year-to-year basis.
Here’s what AGA President and CEO Bill Miller had to say on the recap of the 2024 gambling year:
“In 2024, Americans embraced the diverse legal gaming options available to them—whether in casinos, at sportsbooks, or online—leading to another record-setting year for our industry. As we build on this success, the AGA remains committed to fostering additional growth that benefits consumers, operators, and communities alike.”
Revenue by Sector
Let’s see how land-based casinos, sports betting, and iGaming contributed to the record-setting year. Here’s the breakdown:
Traditional Gaming: Land-based slot and table games had a record-breaking year with a gross gaming revenue of US$49.78 billion. This was an 82 basis points increase from 2023. Meanwhile, on a state level, 12 of 27 traditional gaming markets had their own revenue all-time highs.
Sports Betting: For 2024, sports betting revenue in the U.S. hit US$13.71 billion, a 25.4% bump from the previous record of US$11.04 billion in 2023. Also, licensed sportsbooks had their best Q4 for the sixth time in a row. Generating US$3.66 billion or 7.3% more than the previous Q4 all-time-high from 2023. New Jersey and Illinois both recorded an annual US$1+ billion in sports betting revenue for the time ever.
iGaming: Online gambling revenue spiked by 28.7% in 2024, with US$8.41 billion throughout the year. At the moment, only seven states offer full-scale regulated iGaming. Also, all six established markets had a new annual record for revenue. Rhode Island became the latest state to debut iGaming. It’s expected that its market will only grow larger in the near future.
Best Performers of 2024
AGA’s annual report confirmed that in 2024, six of the top 20 commercial gambling markets registered revenue growth compared to the previous year. Unsurprisingly, Nevada’s Las Vegas Strip was the leader in commercial revenue. The top five was completed by New Jersey, Chicagoland, Baltimore-Washington, D.C., and Queens-Yonkers in New York City.
The big change in the top five came from Queens-Yonkers in New York City. The location gained momentum in 2024 and replaced the Mississippi Gulf Coast. This was possible with the help of Resorts World New York City, which was once again the top commercial casino not based in Nevada.
In the meantime, the top three outside of Las Vegas was completed by MGM National Harbor in Maryland and Encore Boston Harbor in Massachusetts. The three kept their positions from the previous year. Additionally, Rivers Casino Portsmouth in Virginia was one of the highest-grossing locations across the U.S. It’s worth noting that 2024 was its second year of gaming operations.
Record Revenue Means Record Benefits
Of course, the increase in gambling revenue also means more funds and benefits for state and local governments. AGA revealed that commercial gambling operators paid around US$15.66 billion in gaming taxes for 2024. This was an 8.5% improvement from the number recorded in 2023.
Miller also said the following about the gambling proceeds:
“The sustained growth of legal gaming is a win for our industry and the consumers and communities we serve. Every dollar of gaming revenue fuels jobs, investment, and economic growth—reinforcing why the legal industry’s expansion is so important.”
Meanwhile, in Q4 of 2024, gambling operators delivered approximately US$4.01 billion in gambling taxes, which was an 8.4% bump from Q4 2023.In its report, AGA reminded that these gaming tax numbers also include state and local taxes from gaming revenue, which is reported on a monthly and quarterly basis. However, they do not include annual fees or sports betting excise tax payments to the federal government. These numbers also exclude the billions of dollars spent by industry representatives on income, sales, payroll, and corporate taxes.
