Casino industry becoming more popular with Americans

According to recent figures published by the American Gaming Association (AGA), more and more Americans are looking favourably upon casinos and the gaming industry. Numbers show an increased positivity towards this sector from previous years, as well as an increased number of visits to casinos.

Favourable opinions

A record high of 49% of Americans claimed to have a positive view on the gaming industry, a rise from 45% in 2018. This also shows an astonishing increase from 31% ten years ago in 2009, indicating the overall trend of growing positivity towards this sector.

There could be many reasons for this increasing favourability towards the industry, but the next figures may reveal some possible answers. 49& of those surveyed also believed the gaming industry improved communities, whilst even more believed it helped to build economies (57%) and created jobs (71%). This indicates more and more people are seeing the positive side of casinos and gaming, which can result in them being more open to visiting a casino themselves.

Alongside this, 66% of respondents believed gaming provided its users with high-quality entertainment, whilst 63% viewed the available options as “innovative”. Unsurprisingly, these favourable opinions have translated into rising numbers of casino visitors.

More visits to casinos

Over the last year, 44% of American adults visited a casino at least once. This is a massive increase of 9 percentage points from the year before and supports the evidence that the industry is growing in overall popularity.

And this favourable opinion doesn’t look to be slowing down, as 124 million Americans, or 49% of the population, say they will visit a casino in the next year.

With revenue for the US gaming industry coming in at an all-time high of $75.4 billion for the last year, this sector seems set to grow even further over the coming years.

Part of this surge in popularity may be explained by the changes in US gambling laws over the years. Whilst each state still sets its own gambling laws, many have become more relaxed and eased their previous restrictions, which is giving more people access to the benefits casinos and gaming can bring.

“Never been higher”

Bill Miller, president and CEO of AGA said: “The favourability of our industry has never been higher. As gaming expands across the U.S. and more Americans engage with our industry’s offerings, they see first-hand gaming’s positive impact on local economies and its value as a community partner. I’m committed to continuing the association’s work to translate gaming’s vast popularity into political capital, one of my top priorities for AGA.”

AGA research

This research into American attitudes to gaming was carried out by the Mellman Group, on behalf of AGA. It was conducted online and by phone between Sept. 13-19, 2019 among a national sample of 1,000 registered voters.

The findings were unveiled at the recent Global Gaming Expo.