Miller: “Importantly, our comeback is being led by gaming’s traditional verticals as brick-and-mortar casinos”
The American Gaming Association (AGA) released the latest edition of its Commercial Gaming Revenue Tracker, showing that Q3 2021 reached $13.89 billion in nationwide commercial gaming revenue—the best quarter ever for our industry.
Bill Miller, AGA President & CEO, says: “This marks the second consecutive record-setting quarter for the commercial gaming sector, and 2021 is on pace to be the highest-grossing year ever for our industry. This is an impressive feat under any circumstance, let alone as we are emerging from the pandemic.
“Importantly, our comeback is being led by gaming’s traditional verticals as brick-and-mortar casinos saw record quarterly revenue. These gains are due in part to the steady return of travel and tourism, as well as the recovery of table game revenue, which had lagged behind the recovery of slots in previous quarters.
“Such sustained revenue growth proves that our recovery is sustainable as Americans continue to choose gaming as a first-choice entertainment option. You can view the full report here and below.”
The AGA Commercial Gaming Revenue Tracker shows that nationwide revenue from traditional casino games, sports betting and iGaming surpassed US$13.89 billion in the third quarter of 2021, marking a new quarterly record.
Gaming revenue was up 53.8 percent over the COVID-impacted Q3 2020 and 24.7 percent higher than Q3 2019. Gaming’s sustained growth since the end of the first quarter, with monthly gaming revenue not dipping below US$4.4 billion since February, positions 2021 to become the highest-grossing year in the history of U.S. commercial gaming. In the first nine months of the year, commercial casinos generated US$38.67 billion, passing 2020 total revenue and up 18.5 percent from the same period in 2019, the current record year.
Despite recent record-shattering performance, the casino industry has room to grow heading into the final quarter of the year with new commercial gaming markets recently opening in Arizona, Connecticut and Wyoming. Destination markets will benefit from a return of meetings and conventions and the easing of international travel restrictions.
Top Gaming States Set Quarterly Revenue Record
Consumer demand continued into the third quarter as 10 of 25 commercial casino states reported new quarterly revenue records, including the four highest-grossing states in 2019 – Nevada, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. In Nevada, the quarter also saw the highest ever quarterly gaming win for both Clark Country (US$3.16B) and the Las Vegas Strip (US$2.06 billion). In Louisiana – the nation’s fifth largest gaming state in 2019 – revenue dropped by 10.8 percent from Q3 2019 as Hurricane Ida forced casinos to shutter for up to two weeks. Kansas was the only other state to see gaming revenue contract from the same period in 2019 (-1.8%).
Traditonal Gaming Revenue Reaches All-Time High
With commercial casinos able to operate at full capacity, brick-and-mortar gaming generated a record US$12.05 billion in quarterly revenue: a 1.7 percent sequential increase and up 11.8 percent from Q3 2019. In the first nine months of 2021, traditional casino games generated US$33.27 billion – 4.7 percent ahead of the same period in 2019. Slot revenue continued to grow at a faster rather than table games in the third quarter, expanding by 15.2 percent over Q3 2019, compared to 10.2 percent for table games, though the table game vertical set a new quarterly record with US$2.49 billion. Casino slot machine revenue was flat (-0.2%) from the previous quarter with US$8.69 billion generated.
While the recovery of land-based slots and table games drove the second quarter’s record performance, iGaming continued to set new records, reaching US$901 million during the quarter, up 14.9 percent from just the first quarter of this year.
Sports Betting & iGaming Surpass 2020 Totals in Six Months
Meanwhile, sports betting had its second-best quarter to date. With a quieter sports calendar compared to the first quarter, sports betting generated US$888.9 million, dropping 7.5 percent quarter-over-quarter, but growing more than 600 percent over the same three-month period in 2019. Since Q2 2019, 12 states and the District of Columbia have launched commercial sports betting markets. Americans wagered US$11.07 billion with legal sportsbooks in the second quarter, compared to US$13.02 billion during the first quarter of the year.
Combined revenue from sports betting and iGaming accounted for 13.1 percent of total gaming revenue in Q2 2021, down slightly from 15.7 percent in the first quarter. In the first six months of 2021, iGaming—legal and active in only six states—generated US$1.66 billion in revenue, growing 160.8 percent from the same period in 2020 and already surpassing last year’s full year total of US$1.55 billion.
Similarly, first half sports betting revenue in 2021 reached US$1.85 billion, overtaking 2020’s full year total of US$1.55 billion.
