Casino Cabbie: Letter From America 29 | iGaming Future

This week Casino Cabbie’s “Letter From America” focuses on financial figures and future forecasts as the U.S. gambling industry celebrates its 15th consecutive quarter of outstanding revenue growth. Wyoming looks at how much online casinos could bring to the state. And–for the first time since Covid-19–New Jersey online has overtaken its land-based sector.

Read on.

All-time High

The American Gaming Association (AGA) has recorded its 15th consecutive quarter of growth, reporting the industry’s highest-grossing Q3 on record with a total gross gambling revenue (GGR) of US$17.7 billion (£14.3bn).

For the first nine months of 2024, nationwide commercial revenue stands at US$53.24 billion (£42.36bn), up 8.1 percent on 2023’s figures.

During Q3, brick-and-mortar casino GGR dipped 0.9 percent year-over-year to US$12.38 billion (£9.85bn); while sports betting soared by 42.4 percent, generating US$3.24 billion (£2.58bn).

Recent market launches in Kentucky, Maine, North Carolina and Vermont contributed to this growth. And iGaming shot up by 30.3 percent to US$2.08 billion (£1.65bn).

The AGA’s Vice President of Research, David Forman, commented: “Q3 2024 continued gaming’s momentum from the first half of the year, with online casino and sports betting driving strong growth.

“More than a quarter of commercial revenue now regularly comes from online sources, raising the importance of continued sustainable growth with consumers in those states.”

NJ Online Beats The House

The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) has released the state’s revenue figures for October, revealing that the online market has peaked ahead of its land-based counterpart for the first time since COVID-19 forced the sector to shut down in 2020.

The total land-based casino win for the month was US$208.7 million (£166m), down 8.5 percent compared with October 2023.

While Internet gaming shot up by an impressive 28.1 percent year-over-year to US$213.6 million (£169.8m), retail sports betting revenue fell by 16 percent year-over-year to $77.5 million (£61.6m).

Internet gaming revenue has been on an upward trajectory since it was legalised in the Garden State in 2013.

The sector has also grown faster than the land-based industry, suggesting an increasing preference for online gaming over physical casinos.

This may not be good news for everyone but it’s a win for the state’s tax fund, as online casino operators pay 15 percent tax, while land-based operators only pay eight percent.

DraftKings’ Double Trouble

The Ohio Casino Control Commission has slapped DraftKings with a US$425,000 (£338,000) fine for accepting college prop bets between March 14 and 19. These were banned in Ohio on March 1 2024.

And the commission also found that DraftKings had accepted over 40,000 deposits from “non-gaming retail locations” — another red card for the gambling giant.

Back in DraftKing’s Massachusetts home, the state gaming commission has also flagged the company for accepting–prohibited–credit card deposits.

Disciplinary action is pending.

Wyoming Bans Bettors

The Wyoming Gaming Commission (WGC) has voted to sanction those found guilty of harassing college athletes by placing them on the state’s in-voluntary exclusion list and prohibiting them from betting.

The decision follows months of discussion over a possible prop bet ban in the state — the suggested solution to athlete harassment from the National Collegiate Athletics Association.

However, the WGC decided that an outright prohibition of prop bets wouldn’t solve the problem, but banning offenders from betting would.

So far, 12 other U.S. states have enacted a collegiate-level prop bet ban.

Eyes Online Casinos

In our second Wyoming headline, a new report conducted by Spectrum Gaming Group, commissioned by the WGC, has concluded there would be little negative impact on Wyoming’s already established gambling market if the state were to legalise online casinos.

Based on simulations using data from other iGaming states, Spectrum Gaming estimated that regulating iCasino could generate GGR of between US$93.4 million (£74.3m) and US$138.4 million (£110.1m) in 2025.

At a 20 percent tax rate, this would create between US$19 million (£15.1m) and US$28 million (£22.3m) in revenue for the Cowboy State.

The report added that without a commercial casino sector, Wyoming is in an “enviable position” to legalise online casinos as the “dangers of cannibalisation of casino gambling facilities that may concern other states are not relevant here” — a statement that, perhaps indicatively, ignores the presence of the state’s three Tribal Casinos.

“Yee-ha!”