Over the past five years, America’s gambling sector has grown rapidly. With the legalization of online casinos, the increased interest in sports betting, and the stalwart of state lotteries, revenue across the board has been on the rise.
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In this article, we’re going to dive into what it is that could be spurring on this growth, as well as how increased revenue is transforming the way that America’s gambling sector works.
Whether it's increased tourism, the production of new jobs, or how segments of the gambling market are changing, we'll be investigating all of it.
How the Online Sector is Growing
Whilst land-based companies generate plenty of tourism for America, online companies are providing benefits to the public in other ways. Revenue generated from online gambling has grown year on year since casino sites were first made legal in Delaware in 2012, followed by seven further states since then.
As well as casino sites, the online gambling industry in the USA is split into two other categories, sports betting, and lotteries. Amazingly, we only have to look back as far as 2020, in the statistics, to see that at this point in time, the lottery category was generating the most revenue, around $4.29 billion that year.
In that same year, the casino and sports betting categories were generating $3.47 billion and $3.02 billion respectively. Perhaps the most interesting change in the online sector is the seismic shift in this dynamic in the relatively short time since then.
As of 2023, despite all of the sectors having grown, online lotteries now make the smallest amount of revenue at $6.02 billion, whilst sports betting and casino games have sky-rocketed to $9.55 billion and $9.44 billion respectively.
Predictions see the market as a whole to grow at around 12% year-on-year, with sports betting gathering the most momentum to take the majority of the market. It's a fascinating pattern and shows the growing interest from the American public in these two relatively new sectors.
After all, the legalization of online casinos in the USA only started in 2012. Sports betting has been legalized for longer, in fact 30 states now offer legal sports betting, but the states who are slow to change their policies might miss out on some of the massive growth that is predicted in these areas.
How AI Contributes to America's Gambling Sector
Another factor that is helping to speed the growth of America's gambling sector is the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence technology. This tech is incredibly useful for removing the flaws in and speeding up processes that would usually be undertaken by humans.
A particular skill where AI is exceeding expectations is in the area of fraud prevention. In the sphere of online gambling, fraud typically involves a gambling account being compromised, either by a skilled hacker, or somebody who has discovered the login credentials to a gaming account.
Once inside the account, the fraudster can make outlandish bets to try and win quick money, or simply empty the deposit into their own account. Until now, employees would scan through the data on accounts to try to spot unusual behavior and flag it up before a crime could be committed.
Whilst this method was effective in catching and preventing fraud, it was painstaking work that involved concentrating for long periods of time. Not only this, but humans are fallible, in a way that technology is not.
Our experiences, lapses in concentration, and different styles of working can all lead to mistakes. The employment of AI is making it possible to spot anomalies in data far more quickly and precisely than humans can.
This helps gambling companies to save money and redirect their employees’ attentions to matters that they are better suited to, but even more importantly, to provide a safer and more secure service to their customers.
Tourism On the Rise
Where brick-and-mortar casinos and sports venues are concerned, we can see that there has been a visible rise in the interest of international tourists travelling specifically to visit these venues. The US is home to some of the largest sporting events in the world.
Each year the Super Bowl is undoubtedly the single event that draws the largest crowds. However, the rise of smaller events, as well as those that are still relatively new, such as eSports tournaments, are beginning to draw in larger crowds themselves.
This influx of tourists, of course, has a positive impact on the local economy. Whilst visiting for a poker tournament, a basketball game, or any number of other major events, tourists not only need to pay to stay in a hotel, but they need to eat, drink, relax, and unwind.
All of these expenses trickle down in taxes to the local government in the area, generating revenue from a source that's often outside of America.
Bringing in money in such a straightforward way has proven incredibly helpful to many of the states that have state-of-the-art sporting facilities, or a huge casino presence such as Nevada, home to Las Vegas' famous casino paradise.
It will be fascinating to monitor the effects of the revenue from tourism on states who have newly legalized online gambling, but for that, only time will tell.
