US Casino Industry worth $3.4bn in August

mper month in Nevada’s casinos helped the US casino industry reach gaming revenues of $3.4bn according to data compiled by the University of Las Vegas Centre for Gaming Research.

The figures, which exclude tribal run casinos, are up year-over-year by more than four percent when compared to the same period of 2016.

Nevada proved to be the biggest revenue draw, contributing $989.5m or 29% to the overall total, rising by 15% when compared to August 2016. This increase may have been due to the higher visitor numbers at the Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor fight, which took place on August 26th and took over $70m in legal bets.

Aside from Nevada, there were big gaming win rises in Ohio which grew 6% year-over-year to $145.7m while Illinois reported an 8% year-over-year gain, rising to $224m.

Gaming revenues in Maryland rose dramatically in August, rising 32% year-over-year to $137.5m, with neighbouring state West Virginia reporting a 7% drop in its revenue during the same period, falling to $44.6m. Much of this decline could be attributed to the opening of the MGM National Harbour casino earlier this year.

Pennsylvania gaming revenues increased by 2.5% to $267.4m, with New Jersey’s Atlantic City reported a 0.4% year-over-year drop in revenues, falling to $244.8m.

US commercial casinos win over $40bn annually, with tribal casinos pulling in over $30bn annually on average. The American Gaming Association defines a commercial casino as any land-based, riverboat, dockside or racetrack facility operated by private companies under licenses from state governments.