Moreover, many CEOs are confident about future conditions despite persistent concerns about today’s economic environment.

68% of executives surveyed said the present business situation is good, with 28% saying it is satisfactory, while 92% expect such conditions to continue or improve over the next three to six months. 38% said they expect future conditions to be better, with 8% saying conditions will worsen.

Furthermore, 65% of gaming CEOs named supply chain issues as a factor limiting operations, followed by inflation and interest rate concerns at 62%. 50% of executives identified both the uncertainty of the economic environment and the shortage of labour as impediments to business growth.

AGA President and CEO Bill Miller commented: “Our industry remains cautiously optimistic – and has weathered this volatile economy – because of resilient consumer demand.

“Looking ahead, future consumer confidence and spending remain an outstanding question for our continued growth.”

Moreover, 76% expect the pace of wage and benefit growth to continue to increase over the next three to six months, but there was a slowdown in expectations regarding the pace of hiring compared to earlier in 2022.

The AGA noted: “For gaming operators, future customer activity is a major question mark with expectations evenly split between expansion and contraction. Among gaming suppliers, half expect the sales of both new and replacement units to increase over the next two quarters, while none expected a decrease in sales.

“The strong growth over the past two years has positioned the industry well despite future uncertainty. While respondents noted a significant deterioration in the credit environment, nearly half expected balance sheet health to improve over the next six months.”