Casino expansion boosts US gross gaming revenue in Q2 2024

US gross gaming revenue (GGR) grew 8.9% year-over-year in Q2 2024 to reach $17.63 billion. According to the American Gaming Association (AGA), casino expansion in states such as Illinois, Nebraska, and Virginia played a key role in this increase. As a result, revenue from brick-and-mortar casinos increased 1.8% to reach $12.49 billion.

Sports betting and online gaming saw particularly strong growth. Sports betting gross revenue increased 35.3% to $3.16 billion in the second quarter, while online gaming revenue increased 25.2% to $1.97 billion.

The quarter was the highest revenue quarter on record for a second quarter, although the total was slightly below the first quarter’s record of $17.7 billion. For the first six months of 2024, total gross gaming revenue increased 7.7% to $35.48 billion. Land-based casino revenue increased 1.1% to $24.83 billion, while sports betting gross revenue increased 28.7% to $6.67 billion and online gaming revenue increased 25.6% to $3.95 billion.

Land-based gaming revenue, including slots, table games, and retail sports betting, reached $12.57 billion, up 1.6% year-over-year.

While online gaming continues to show strong growth, the pace of that growth has begun to slow. Online gaming and betting revenue grew 32.5% in the second quarter, compared to 21.8% in the first quarter. However, that increase was still lower than the nearly 44% growth seen a year earlier. As a result, online gaming’s share of total commercial gaming revenue fell to 28.6% compared to the previous two quarters.

In addition, commercial gaming operators paid approximately $3.73 billion in taxes related to gaming revenue, up 4.0% year-over-year. The data was released by the American Gaming Association as part of its Commercial Gaming Revenue Tracker, which compiles data from government regulatory filings.

Of the 33 jurisdictions that reported complete data by the end of June, 24 saw revenue increases in the second quarter compared to 2023. However, the largest revenue decline of 8.2% occurred in Oklahoma due to the closure of Will Rogers Downs racetrack after a hurricane in June.