During the latest reporting period, domestic gaming revenues continued to march forward, while selected international market continue to be impacted by pandemic-related concerns. Gaming-related activity within the United States showed no signs of slowing through the final quarter of 2022.
In 2022, an overwhelming majority of commercial gaming markets experienced revenues press north of their performances of the prior year. Nevada led the way posting $14.8 billion in gross gaming revenue, which was up 10.5 percent on the year. Further, Nevada has now witnessed gaming revenues exceed $1.0 billion for 23 consecutive months. The nation’s second largest gaming market, Pennsylvania, generated $3.8 billion in gross gaming revenue in 2022, up 6.5 percent from the prior year. Additionally, New Jersey had an impressive year expanding by 10.1 percent to $2.8 billion in gaming revenue in 2022.
Since 2019, gaming operations in Asia, particularly Macau, have taken a significant hit, but the outlook for 2023 is improving. In early December 2022, China moved to roll back some social restrictions put in place to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, such as the removal of some in-place lockdowns as well as allowing schools with no known infections to resume classes. A combination of reduced social restrictions coupled with the Chinese New Year in late January 2023 led to $1.4 billion in gaming revenue in Macau during the first month of the new year, the highest level of activity since January 2020. Should restrictions continue to loosen and revenues trend toward pre-pandemic levels, operators should benefit, providing some light at the end of the tunnel.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE BY BRIAN R. GORDON IN THE 2023 SPRING EDITION OF GAMING & LEISURE MAGAZINE.