How much revenue does a casino generate? Casino revenue varies by time of year. In April, Las Vegas is terrible. By June, it’s great. But April and June are far apart when it comes to revenue for the casinos. In fact, they’re hundreds of millions of dollars apart. Here’s a quick breakdown of the revenue of casinos in Nevada by month. A casino’s revenue in April and December differs by over $200 million.
In fiscal year 2020, casinos in the U.S. generated around $30 billion in revenue for state and local governments. That’s one-fifth of the total general revenue generated by gambling. That number does not include the revenues from tribal casinos, which are also part of revenue sharing agreements with state governments. In fiscal year 2020, nearly two-thirds of gambling revenue came from lotteries, while casinos, video gaming, and pari-mutuel wagering combined for just over a billion dollars.
In April, the state of Nevada collected a record $1 billion in gambling revenue, up 11 percent from April 2019. That’s about $1,300 per American. And nearly 93 percent of that money is returned to players as winnings. In the United States alone, casinos generate $26 billion in adjusted revenue every year. The largest casino market in the country is Nevada. Atlantic City’s casinos bring in $4 billion annually. Meanwhile, riverboat casinos in Illinois and Missouri collected $1.8 billion in revenue in 2001.
In 2015, gambling revenues grew by 1.8 percent, or $0.5 billion. While the growth rate in gambling revenue varied across states, it was still higher than the nation’s overall growth rate (0.3 percent) over the same period. The state’s growth was due in part to its expansion and legalization. Further, the growth in gambling revenues was greatest in Pennsylvania and Ohio, where the legalization of commercial casinos and the operation of racinos resulted in a 4.2 percent growth in 2015 dollar amount.
While poker accounts for only a small portion of casino revenue, it occupies a lot of space and costs the casinos money. While smaller casinos have completely replaced poker rooms with slot machines, larger casinos still have poker rooms. Poker players spend their money in other games, rooms, and refreshments. According to the MGM group, hotel rooms are just as important as slot machines. In Vegas, a casino with ninety percent gaming space makes twice as much as a riverboat with less than 10 percent of the total gaming space.
According to the State Gaming Commission, in fiscal 2015, state and local governments earned less than $5.4 billion from commercial casinos. However, nine of the seventeen states that have casinos reported a decline in revenues. Delaware, Iowa, and Louisiana reported the biggest declines, with 9.1 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively. But while the average growth rate for a state was 17.1 percent, this number was still low. Nevertheless, these casinos still contribute to the state’s tax revenue.
