Commercial gaming revenue in the US hit a new record of $5.05bn in January, according to the American Gaming Association (AGA), with sports betting’s contribution passing $1bn for the first time.
This was by 21.1% year-on-year, and is the 23rd consecutive month of revenue growth for the sector.
The total comprised mostly of slots revenue, which hit $2.50bn for the month – a rise of 15.5%.
Revenue from sports betting rose significantly, by 58.2% to $1.02bn, marking the first time revenue for the vertical exceeded $1.0bn. This comes with one state – Arizona – still to report its revenue figures for the month.
The AGA said the sports betting boost was due to the launch of two highly anticipated state markets – Ohio and Massachusetts – during the month. Ohio generated $208.9m in revenue for January, a record for a single calendar month, while Massachusetts reported GGR of $96.9m.
The Bay State has since added mobile to the legal product range, with the first digital bets placed earlier in March.
Meanwhile, Louisiana saw the second highest revenue of any state in sports betting activities, coming in at $197m.
Table games revenue was $838m for the month, a rise of 14.7%, while igaming revenue grew by 20.6% to $482m.
Combined revenue from land-based casino slot machines and table games totaled $3.99bn in January, up by 14.3%
The AGA’s state-by-state breakdown
Of the 33 commercial gaming jurisdictions that were operational one year ago, 31 reported year-on-year growth for the month of January, according to the AGA’s figures.
As expected, Nevada posted the highest revenue for the month, totaling $1.27bn, an 18% increase from the prior year. Revenue in Pennsylvania reached the second-highest amount, at $477.3m, up 16.9%.
New Jersey followed in third, generating $436.9m in revenue, which was a rise of 14.5%.