Mobile gambling, iCasino, and iLottery showed the strongest trends, with total spending increasing by 3.3%.
According to a report released this week by Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, the total US gambling expenditure in 2024 was $172 billion (131 billion GBP/155 billion EUR), an increase of 3.3% year-over-year, with digital gaming verticals accounting for most of the growth.
Commercial and tribal casinos still accounted for the majority of regulated market spending, totaling 56%, with retail lottery ranking third at 22%. However, the report by Eilers & Krejcik shows that mobile sports betting, online casinos, and poker games, as well as lotteries, are three specific areas where there was double-digit percentage growth compared to 2023.
Driven by new games in North Carolina and Vermont, the online sports betting market grew by 34% in 2024. Meanwhile, online casinos and poker games grew by 29%. Although online lottery gaming grew by 26% year-over-year, it still only accounted for 1% of all gambling expenditures in 2024.
Eilers & Krejcik did not include social casinos, online sweepstakes casinos, or skill-based games in their revenue figures in the report.
Retail casino and lottery gaming revenue exceeds expenditures
Apart from sports betting, retail commercial and tribal casinos accounted for 61% of total gaming revenue, while expenditures were 56%. Although the market share of commercial and tribal casinos only grew by 1%, this gap still exists, and the figure does not include sports betting at commercial venues.
Lottery revenue accounted for 22% of operator bonuses, slightly higher than the total expenditure of 21% for online and retail lottery activities. Although the report did not separate the total revenue from lottery games, casinos and lottery games remind us that the percentage generated by retail games is still unbalanced compared to online. In 2024, live betting accounted for 85% of total gaming revenue, while online sources accounted for 15%.
