US experiencing historic expansion in land-based gaming
Pent-up demand from COVID-19 along with the proliferation of iGaming and sports betting is driving customers back in droves to US casinos and paving the way for expansion of gaming to more conservative states
By Buck Wargo – SiGMA US correspondent
That’s the conclusion from a discussion organised by the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States on the expansion of the gaming industry in the US.
Industry experts said that just a year ago, no one thought that the industry will have this strong rebound.
“The rumours of the death of land-based gaming were greatly exaggerated and resulted to be completely wrong,” said Howard Glaser, the global head of government affairs and special initiatives for Scientific Games, maker of slots and other gaming systems.
Last year, following the Covid-19 scare, more than 900 casinos closed across the US and many haven’t reopened fully until the last couple of months.
According to Glaser, while online gaming was strong and doubled, tripled and quadrupled over the past year, some were suggesting that customers wouldn’t come back because of the fear of COVID-18, Glaser said.
“The answer is not only that they have come back, but that they have come back stronger than ever,” Glaser said.
“We saw a significant revenue drop in 2020 and what we’ve seen in the first quarter is not just breaking the record of last year. It’s beating all-time records. There’s record revenue in Maryland and beating pre-pandemic records in Indiana and Pennsylvania. You can look at almost every state. This is clearly not just pent-up demand but an ongoing desire for that social experience that people took for granted when the pandemic was upon them. They appreciated that one could go and have an enjoyable time in a place with people.”
In Ohio, the state’s 11 casinos and racinos reported a record $217 million in revenue during April, an increase over March.
Glaser said the revenue growth and economic recovery is driving interest in casino expansion.
Virginia and Illinois are in the process of getting new casinos and tribal gaming is expanding.
In Alabama, the House is debating a Senate bill that would allow nine casinos. There’s discussion of expansion in Florida. New York is talking expansion and Texas is talking gaming.
Glaser said a lot of the activity is driven by the growth of sports betting that was launched three years ago this week when the US Supreme Court struck down a federal ban on full-fledged sports betting outside Nevada.
Join SiGMA’s Affiliate Grand Slam Club:
Affiliates are gold in the iGaming industry and the SiGMA Affiliate Grand Slam is our own bespoke Affiliate Club that gathers all major, upcoming and affiliate startups within the industry. Being part of the SiGMA Affiliate Grand Slam will ensure that as an affiliate you will automatically qualify and benefit from what we at SiGMA, can provide you with. Affiliates requesting to join will be vetted through a membership application process upon submitting a request to JOIN.
