Record Revenue of $66.30 Billion for US Gambling Market in 2013

RubinBrown report shows 1.6% increase in US gambling revenue in 2013

According to the survey conducted by RubinBrown LLP, an accounting and professional consulting firm, both tribal and commercial brick and mortar casinos in the United States brought in a record of $66.30 billion in gambling revenue in 2013.

The report points out that:

“Revenue numbers show a record improvement of $1.06 billion compared to 2012 when the gambling revenue of land based US casinos was $65.24 billion.”

The RubinBrown report, Commercial and Tribal Gaming Stats 2014, confirms a slow but steady increase in casino revenue in the US by gathering and analyzing data from over 1,000 commercial and tribal casinos across 39 US states with legalized gambling. The data was collected from various state gaming regulatory authorities as well as from the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC). The report was written by the leaders of RubinBrown’s National Gaming Services Group, namely Brandon Loeschner and Daniel Holmes.

Increase in US Gambling Revenue over the Past Four Years

According to the authors of the RubinBrown report, the gambling revenue of US casinos has increased slowly but steadily over the past four years following the recession. In 2010 the gambling revenue of US casinos increased to $61.10 billion, while in 2011 it went up to $62.76 billion. Two years ago US casinos brought in $65.24 billion, while last year the gambling revenue improved by 1.6 percent. The growth in gambling revenue is mainly believed to be a result of the market expansion as more tribes are trying to enter the gaming industry and more states are doing their best to legalize gambling. However, not all is perfectly rosy.

Because of the increased competition, some existing operators have seen a decline in individual gambling revenue, the reports said. In addition, while the overall tribal gambling revenue is up, the expansion of commercial land based casinos negatively impacted the business of certain tribes and casinos. In general, commercial gaming expanded 1.3 percent in 2013, while tribal gaming grew by 2.8 percent in 2012 (data for 2013 is not yet available).

The report lists Florida, Maine, Ohio and Maryland among states with the biggest gaming expansion over the past two years. On the other hand, states without significant recent gaming expansion are Mississippi, Illinois, Delaware and Indiana.

Online Gambling Important for Future Growth

The report also notes the early development of online gambling in the United States which is considered to be a significant factor for future growth in revenue numbers. Statistics say that the regulated online gambling market in Nevada generated $8.52 million in revenue during the first ten months. Even though the revenue was not of significant importance, the possibility of expanding online gambling to the other states with large population centers like California provides a significant opportunity for the industry.

The impact of online gambling in New Jersey and Delaware is also noted as potentially promising. In addition, the report also mentions the recent exploration of possibly legalizing online gambling in the US state of Colorado.