Ohio ranked sixth in the nation for casino revenue, raking in over $3.3 billion last year, driven in part by the state’s new sports betting program.
Nationally, the casino industry had its best year ever in 2023, winning $66.5 billion from gamblers.
The figures released last month from the American Gaming Association show demand for wagering remained strong in a year marked by high inflation and deep-seated economic uncertainty.
David Forman is Vice President of Research at the AGA.
Matthew: Last year’s total was 10% higher than in 2022, which was also a record-setting year. What’s driving this demand for gambling?
Forman: Really since 2019, or since COVID, we've seen just an explosion in terms of the revenue that the gaming industry has brought in each year across the country. Ohio is no different. And part of that is due to the expansion of new forms of gaming, including iGaming, which is real money betting on blackjack and slot machines. That's only available in six states right now. But that grew by almost 23% last year.
Sports betting, something that was only available in Nevada not too many years ago, is now available in almost 40 states across the country, including Ohio. Sports betting generated almost $11 billion for the industry and grew by almost 50% last year. So part of the growth is from the expansion of legal gaming options into new markets.
The other part is that, since COVID, we've seen kind of a new audience coming to brick-and-mortar casinos. The average age of a casino visitor has fallen for each of the last four or five years and is now eight years younger than it was in 2019, which is a pretty dramatic shift in terms of the demographics that you see on the physical casino floor today. It's much younger, and it tends to be a much more affluent crowd.
Matthew: Ohio ranked sixth in the nation for casino revenue. Was that a surprise?
Forman: No. I mean, Ohio has a pretty well-developed brick-and-mortar casino industry. I think maybe the big surprise last year was Ohio and sports betting. Last year was the first year with legal sports betting in Ohio, and Ohio immediately became the fourth-largest sports betting market in the country in just its first year of operations. So people in Ohio legally bet more than $7.6 billion on sports last year in just the first year of operations there, only behind New York, New Jersey and Illinois. So I think the speed at which people have embraced the legal market there and have moved their business away from offshore operators has been a welcome, pleasant surprise.
Matthew: This is all great news for the industry itself, but are there any downsides to this rise in betting?
Forman: The industry is always concerned about problem gambling and responsible gambling. And it is a real concern. The benefit consumers have with the expansion of legal betting options like sports betting in Ohio is that the legal industry, the legal operators are committed to providing players with resources, if they need them when it comes to responsible gaming and problem gambling.
You know, we talked about people betting almost $8 billion last year in Ohio. People didn't wake up in January and decide today's the day I'm going to start betting on sports. People have been doing this for a long, long time. They've just had to take up business to bookies or illegal, offshore sites that are happy to take your money. That don't guarantee that they'll pay you back. And can't be held responsible as regulators, and again, don't provide any of the tools for players to gamble responsibly, whether that's time limits or deposit limits, or what have you.
Problem gambling is a concern for the industry. We take it very seriously. But I think in the big picture, it is much better for consumers to be betting with legal operators in the offshore books they have been using in the past.
