Growth Mostly In Digital As Report Pegs Total 2024 U.S. Gambling Spend At $172 Billion

According to a report released this week by Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, gambling spend in the United States in 2024 totaled $172 billion, a 3.3% year-over-year increase — with digital gaming verticals accounting for most of the uptick.

Commercial and tribal casinos still comprised the majority of the outlay in regulated markets with a combined 56%, and retail lottery play ranked third with 22%. Mobile sports betting, online casino and poker play, and iLottery, however, were the three specific disciplines where Eilers & Krejcik’s report showed double-digit percentage increases compared to 2023.

The market segment of online sports betting grew 34% in the 2024 calendar year, boosted by launches in North Carolina and Vermont. Online casino and poker play, meanwhile, surged 29%. While online lottery play climbed 26% year-over-year, it still represented only 1% of all gambling spend in 2024.

Eilers & Krejcik did not include social casinos, online sweepstakes casinos, or skill-based games among its revenue figures in the report.

Retail casino and lottery GGR outpaces spend

Excluding sports betting, retail commercial and tribal casinos accounted for 61% of gross gaming revenue compared to the 56% spend. That gap came despite a mere 1% increase in the market segment for both commercial and tribal casinos, and the figure does not include sports betting for the commercial venues.

Lottery revenue accounted for 22% of operator winnings, narrowly outpacing the 21% in total spend from both online and retail lottery action. While revenue totals for lottery play were not split in the report, casino and lottery play provided a reminder of the still-lopsided percentage retail play generates compared to online. In-person wagering accounted for 85% of gross gaming revenue in 2024 compared to 15% from online sources.

Unsurprisingly, the growth of online sports betting has come at the expense of brick-and-mortar counterparts, with the retail sports betting market segment down 24%. That was the worst-year-over-year change, though retail lottery also dipped 5% and retail pari-mutuel racing was 6% lower.

The three online gaming disciplines shined when it came to five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR). Online sports betting again led here with an increase of 96%, followed by online casino and poker (74%) and iLottery (45%). The overall five-year CAGR was 7.3%, with both online pari-mutuel racing and video gaming terminals also beating that number by showing 8% growth.

The only discipline that showed a decline in five-year CAGR was retail pari-mutuel racing, which was down 7%.

Growth trends continuing for OSB, online casino

If the first two months of the year are any indication, both online sports betting and online casino appear poised to continue their solid growth patterns. In a like-for-like comparison of the first 60 state sports betting revenue reports of 2025, handle is up 12.4% to $25.77 billion from 2024 while operator gross revenue has climbed 19.6% to $2.52 billion.

Those percentages will fluctuate throughout the year based on sporting event outcomes, but 2025 will mark the first time sportsbook revenue tops $1 billion in February in the post-PASPA era. Operators have reported $978.8 million already, and large-market states Illinois and Arizona have yet to report.

The “Big 3” states with internet casino gaming available — Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey — have all come roaring out of the gate with double-digit percentage revenue growth for the first two months of 2025.

Pennsylvania iCasino gross revenue has surged 31.3% year-over-year to $524.5 million. Michigan operator winnings are up 27.2% at $470.7 million, and though New Jersey lags in third with $429.4 million, that is still a 17.4% increase from the opening two months of 2024.

Connecticut and West Virginia, which qualify as mid-size markets, also have reported strong, early double-digit revenue growth. FanDuel and DraftKings have combined for $106.4 million in the Nutmeg State, up 24.9%, while West Virginia licensees have reported a 57.4% bounce to $48.2 million in winnings.