US commercial gaming revenue sets fourth consecutive record in 2024 but CEO outlook still slightly negative

The latest State of the States revenue report from the American Gaming Association, released on Tuesday, showed that US commercial gaming generated $72 billion in revenue in 2024, a 7.5% increase from 2023. Last year’s total set a new all-time record for the fourth consecutive year, an impressive feat on the heels of the Covid pandemic and subsequent economic headwinds.

Of the 38 states with commercial gaming, 28 set all-time individual records last year, per the AGA. The industry contributed $15.9 billion in state and local tax revenue, also a record and an 8.5% YoY increase. This total did not include the federal excise tax paid by sports betting operators or other typical corporate taxes.

According to the report, 15 states saw double-digit YoY revenue gains in 2024, with two more at 9%. The highest climber was Washington DC, which jumped 181.7% after ending its sports betting monopoly in favour of a competitive market.

Conversely, eight states saw decreases, five of which were 2% or lower. Montana (-15%) was the biggest laggard, although it was also by far the smallest market with just $7.1 million in revenue.

Performance by vertical

Commercial casino revenue was $49.89 billion in 2024, a record and a 1% increase from 2023. This came from a total of 492 facilities across the US. Sports betting revenue grew 25% to $13.78 billion, aided by launch during the year of two new markets: North Carolina and Vermont. Handle for the year was $149.9 billion.

Revenue from legal iGaming in seven states increased 28.7% to $8.4 billion, including $26 million in Rhode Island, which launched last year and was the first new market since Connecticut in late 2021. The total excludes Nevada, which offers online poker only.

Overall, the results are the latest example of the growth disparities between the verticals. For several months, retail revenue has grown marginally or even declined in some cases, while sports betting and especially iGaming have grown immensely.

All seven iGaming states posted some kind of monthly revenue record in March. By comparison, the Las Vegas Strip was down 5% YoY for the month and is down more than 3% for the fiscal year.

Gaming outlook lower in the near term

While the record numbers are positive, other findings were not so rosy. The AGA reported on Tuesday that its Gaming Conditions Index, which “indicates real economic activity in the industry, as measured by gaming revenue, employment, employee wages and salaries, executive sentiment and casino hotel RFP activity”, declined 0.9% YoY, which was “the largest contraction since the pandemic”.

This decline, the AGA said, was “primarily driven by weaker real wages, marginally negative sentiment and real below average revenue growth”. A survey of 28 executives from member companies showed that the aggregate sentiment was -5.6% for the quarter. This means that 5.6 percent more respondents gave negative answers to business outlook questions than positive.

That actually represented an increase from the last survey (-8.7% in Q3 2024), but near-term outlook has been significantly impacted. The AGA said that Q1 was the first time since the survey started in 2021 where more executives reported a negative present business situation than positive – 36% negative versus 18% positive.

“Although executives are bullish on capital investments, expectations around the pace of hiring and wage growth remain muted,” the report said. “Employee wages and benefits were selected along with tax or regulatory policy changes and data protection as the top areas placing additional pressure on profit margin over the next six to 12 months.” 

Looking ahead

Long-term outlook, however, was more optimistic. Over 80% were neutral long term, compared to 14% positive and just 4% negative.

“Executive sentiment around future customer activity improved to its highest level since 2022 Q1, with 29% of executives expecting an increase,” the AGA said. “Insufficient customer demand, which was chosen as a factor limiting operations by 22% of executives in 2024 Q3, was only chosen by 11% of executives in 2025 Q1.” 

Notably, the survey was conducted from 25 March-8 April, meaning responses were filed before and after the “Liberation Day” tariff-related market swings in early April. A number of gaming companies saw their stocks dip significantly before edging back and the majority of CEOs have downplayed economic impacts thus far during first-quarter calls.

“Like others, AGA member companies face a landscape where consumers’ discretionary activities will be tested by tariffs on imported goods and stock market setbacks,” the association said. “However, even as near-term executive views have darkened, their longer-term outlook is more positive, reflecting hope that the current uncertainty will be resolved sooner than later.”