April 2022 Commercial Gaming Revenue

U.S. commercial gaming revenue grew in April across every vertical to $4.99 billion, up 12.4 percent year-over-year and marking the second-highest grossing month of all time despite widespread macroeconomic challenges.

As expected, the year-over-year pace of revenue growth continued to slow in April as the comparisons move beyond 2021 months in which the industry was operating with significant COVID-related operating restrictions. On a sequential basis, gaming revenue dropped 6.8 percent from March’s all-time monthly record.

Through the first four months of 2022, commercial gaming revenue stands at $19.33 billion, 24.2 percent ahead of the same period last year. While persistent macroeconomic concerns remain, including supply chain disruptions, labor shortages and rising inflation rates, the gaming industry’s growth rate at the start of 2022 has the potential to be another record-setting year.

Twenty-four of 31 commercial gaming states that were operational one year ago posted year-over-year revenue growth in April.

Through April, nearly all commercial gaming states are tracking well ahead of where they were at this point in 2021. Bucking that growth trend is the idiosyncratic D.C. sports betting market (-32.0%), as well as Kansas (-0.3%), Mississippi (-1.2%) and South Dakota (-1.6%) that are down by low single digits from last year’s pace. Increasingly difficult year-over-year comparisons were felt heavily in legacy casino markets Mississippi and South Dakota and reflect the strength of the consumer gaming market in spring 2021 as operating restrictions were lifted.

Casino visitation levels were down year-over-year in April in four of the five states that report admission data (IL, IA, LA, MS, MO).  Mississippi casinos registered the largest decline (-12.9%) while Illinois casinos welcomed the highest number of visitors – 806,302 – since before the pandemic. Compared to pre-pandemic levels, visitation was down in April an average of 12.3 percent across the five states.

Meanwhile, Las Vegas outperformed the regional markets as visitation jumped 31.4 percent year-over-year and was merely down 4.5 percent from April 2019, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

In April, combined gaming revenue from land-based slot machines and table games grew in 20 of 25 states compared to 2021, while year-to-date revenue from such traditional casino gaming is down in three markets: Kansas (-0.3%), Mississippi (-1.3%) and South Dakota (-2.1%).

Nationwide, traditional casino games generated revenue of $4.07 billion, up 5.7 percent versus April 2021. Slot revenue gained 2.2 percent to reach $2.95 billion, while table games generated revenue of $786.7 million, a 26.3 percent increase over 2021.

Sports betting and iGaming revenue continued to grow by double digit percentages in April over 2021.

Land-based and online commercial sportsbooks generated $497.5 million in revenue from operations in 25 states, excluding Arizona, which had not yet reported sports betting data at the time of publication. This represents a 74.6 percent gain from April 2021 when commercial sports betting markets were live across 20 markets. Excluding new sports betting markets, April sports betting revenue was up 67.9 percent year-over year.

Meanwhile, iGaming platforms in Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and West Virginia generated $416.4 million in April, $6 million short of March’s record revenue and up 38.8 percent year-over-year. April 2022 had six iGaming markets compared to five in 2021 (excluding Nevada online poker). Omitting the new iGaming market, April iGaming revenue was up 31.2 percent year-over year

Taken together, gaming revenue from iGaming and online sports betting reached $913.9 million, or 18.3 percent of all commercial gaming revenue in April, a decrease from 19.2 percent in March.

About the Commercial Gaming Revenue Tracker
AGA’s Commercial Gaming Revenue Tracker provides state-by-state and nationwide insight into the U.S. commercial gaming industry’s financial performance. Monthly updates on AmericanGaming.org feature topline figures based on state revenue reports while quarterly reports provide a more detailed analysis covering the three previous months.