The regulated gambling industry of the United States reportedly had an estimated aggregated value north of $215 billion last year with this number only set to grow as even more of the nation’s jurisdictions legalize iGaming and sportsbetting.
This figure was revealed via a Tuesday report from the online news source at PlayUSA.com to place the sector’s economic significance above the combined worth of the 32 franchises of the National Football League (NFL) and the merged gross domestic products for the states of South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota.
Complementary comparisons:
PlayUSA.com explained that its own investigation arrived at this colossal valuation after conduction an investigation that factored in the aggregated worth of everything from commercial and tribal casinos to retail and online sportsbetting. The source went on to detail that the figure, which also encompassed the economic significance of poker, lotteries and slots, is more than double the United States’ annual foreign aid budget and well beyond the $34 billion President Joe Biden recently committed to spending on his student debt forgiveness plan.
Historical precedent:
Alan Feldman (pictured) from the University of Nevada Las determined that the 15 largest companies active in the United States’ gambling market have a combined value of something like $79.1 billion led by giants such as Las Vegas Sands Corporation at $27.7 billion and Wynn Resorts Limited at $6.6 billion. However, the news domain admitted that this figure could be misleading as some of these firms do ‘a significant portion of their business overseas’ with its finishing tally moreover avoiding large overseas players including live-dealer online casino games developer Evolution Gaming Limited at a perceived $16.2 billion and London-listed Flutter Entertainment at an estimated $21.8 billion.
A response from Feldman reportedly read…
“I don’t know that I would say there’s a ceiling to the economic value of this industry because it’s continuously growing and changing and finding new ways to engage people but the threat to the online folks in particular is either bad management or out-and-out dishonesty in sportsbetting in particular. The moment you hear that those outcomes were manipulated by something and the operator didn’t catch it, that’s going to be a major problem.”