If you noticed sports betting infiltrate media and your social circles more and more last year, then you’d be right according to new data.
The American Gaming Association has a revenue tracker, and on Tuesday, Feb. 20, it published a study showing that the sports betting industry in the U.S. produced revenue of $10.92 billion in 2023 which is 44.5% higher than the $7.56 billion from last year.
That’s a record number for sports betting, which was the lead driver for why the commercial gaming industry at large also had a record revenue of $66.52 billion, 10% higher than last year.
Slot Gaming Revenue — which accounts for over half of total gaming revenue — and Table Gaming Revenue increased by low single-digit percentages, while iGaming increased by nearly 23% year-on-year with a revenue of $6.17 billion.
Sports betting also saw a record in handle — which refers to the total amount that is wagered — as $119.84 billion was placed in sports bets in 2023, up 27.8% versus the previous year.
A major driver for the revenue increase is the entry of new markets, as five new states were added in 2023, including Ohio, which was fourth among states at $936.6 million in revenue, and Massachusetts, which was ninth at $483.2 million.
There were also major increases in some of the biggest states as New Jersey and Illinois, the second and third highest revenue gross states each passed the $1 billion mark with annual growth increases of over 25% apiece.
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But despite the massive gains, there is still a lot of room for growth in the industry. Nearly 40 states have already legalized sports betting, but there are two major states still missing: California and Texas.
There are a lot of regulations that are keeping those states from legalizing sports betting, though FanDuel’s CCO Mike Raffensperger told TheStreet that he thinks that these states will open up eventually and it’s just more a matter of “when as opposed to if.”
Eilers & Krejcik Gaming projected in 2022 that the opening of the California market alone could generate around $3 billion in revenue for sports betting, which is almost double of what New York, the top market for sports betting, generated in 2023.
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