November Is About To Put An End To US Casinos’ Winning Streak

Article by : Helen Dec 28, 2020

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It was a promising six-month period of steady gambling revenue growth for the US casino operators and other entertainment companies. Despite a massive revenue drop in April 2020, the US gaming industry managed to withstand and start recovering slowly but steadily. However, the latest indicators show that November is about to bring an end to this optimistic streak.

According to the American Gaming Association’s Commercial Gaming Revenue Tracker figures released at the beginning of December 2020, the total US gambling revenue generated in the third quarter of 2020 reached US$9 billion, which is 81% of the pre-pandemic results in the third quarter of 2019.

Bill Miller, the AGA CEO, is pretty satisfied with the Q3 results but, at the same time, is on the lookout for new restrictions that may negatively impact the gambling revenue.

While these quarterly results are promising, the reality is a full recovery is dependent on continued public health measures to control prevalence rates.

October 2020 also turned out to be fruitful for the US gambling industry, with the revenue totaling US$3.3 billion, which is 7% less than the revenue generated in the same period last year but is 6.3% more than the result of the previous month. The slots revenue dropped over 10% year-on-year to US$2.1 billion, and the table games revenue is down 17% to US$543 million. However, sports betting and online gambling have dragged up the total, as the revenue generated by these activities more than tripled year-on-year. As for the year-to-date results, gambling revenue dropped only one-third to US$24.1 billion. Huge slots and table games revenue drops are made up for by sports betting and online gambling activities. Online casinos, for example, reported an impressive 206.2% growth to a record-breaking US$1.23 billion.

Sports betting is about to set a national record, with the total revenue hitting US$3 billion in October as soon as Illinois releases its monthly results. Besides, two states where sports betting is legalized will set their personal revenue records as well.

Besides all these promising and exciting figures, early indicators show that November won’t be as productive as the previous month. This week, Maryland casinos reported a US$130 million revenue generated in November, which is more than US$12 million less than the October results. More than that, all state’s six gambling venues reported negative sequential growth, which means that it is likely to be the case for many other casinos throughout the country as well.

The situation in Ohio is even worse, as it faces even more restrictive operating limits. The state’s gambling properties reported a US$133 million revenue in November, down from US$169 million in October.

In Nevada, Las Vegas Sands, the biggest casino operator in Las Vegas, stated that to “better reflect occupancy patterns,” it would shut down the Palazzo hotel until December 23. This is not the first time the hotel tower closes its doors. It had been already closed in July amid the longest lockdown in the state. The gambling area, bars, and restaurants of the Palazzo venue will be operating at a 25% capacity, with overnight gambling being entirely prohibited. Many other leading state’s hotels are also closed for guests. These include Wynn Resorts’ Encore Las Vegas, MGM Resorts’ Park MGM, and Caesars Entertainment’s off-Strip Rio.

It is still too early to make predictions, but many gambling experts are taking an optimistic position, as the US gambling industry may speed up its recovery amid the start of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution process.