RubinBrown Gaming Stats 2019

COMMERCIAL GAMING

GAMING REVENUES BY REGION

As featured in the March 2019 Edition of Casino Journal

In 2018, the United States commercial gaming industry generated $41.3 billion dollars in gaming revenues, up 3.4% from 2017. Over the past five years the growth in gaming has originated primarily from market expansion and the opening of new casinos. Historically, the geographic expansion has led to neighboring states seeing year-over-year decline in revenues. However, 2018 was unique in the fact that the new casino openings (Occurring in New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts) did not lead to reduced gaming revenues in the neighboring states. The only two states that saw a revenue decline in the traditional brick and mortar casinos, Illinois (-2.5%) and West Virginia (-1.8%), still experienced overall growth in gaming revenues when factoring in the States’ respective limited stakes video gaming markets. When combining the limited stakes video gaming revenues, Illinois’ gaming market increased by 6.0% and West Virginia’s gaming market increased by 1.8%. The nation-wide growth in gaming is primarily being attributed to the increased disposable income from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act , which lowered the typical employee’s tax withholdings throughout 2018, and strong consumer confidence. In October 2018, the consumer confidence index hit 137.9 the highest reading since 2000.

$11.92B 28.9%

$1.22 2.9%

$5.27B 12.8%

$12.28B 29.7%

$10.59B 25.7%

Nevada

South Region Northeast Region

Midwest Region

Other

In addition to strong economic conditions, five states quickly capitalized on the ability to offer sports wagering after the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act . These five states (MS, NJ, PA, RI, and WV) generated an additional $128.2 million in gaming revenues from sports wagering. When combining Nevada’s pre-existing sports wagering market, the total net commercial gaming revenue generated from sports wagering totaled $472.3 million in 2018. Looking forward, the industry is poised for future growth as the economy remains strong and numerous states continue to explore the legalization of sports wagering. However, the industry also faces increasing headwinds. Most notably, the lower tax withholdings that originated from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is also resulting in a reduction in the average federal tax refund. The reduction in the average refund check will likely lead to a reduction in March and April gaming revenues.

Commercial Gaming

3

† see statistical note on page 25