US iGaming Market to Hit $10.98bn by 2029

While online sports betting is now legal in 30 states across the US, online casino legalization has experienced a much slower path to success. However, that isn’t stopping it. Analysts have stated that the US market should expect iGaming to hit a GGR of $10.98 billion by 2029.

States with Legalized iGaming

With the US states unlocking different mediums of gambling like you unlock video game characters, it’s no surprise that iGaming is expected to see a huge boom over the next five years. Currently, only seven states permit iGaming, but 48 states permit either sports betting, a lottery, and/or casino gambling. This means that, currently, there are only two states that don’t supply any type of gambling at all, outside of the state lottery. Those two states are Utah, which has a Latter's-Day Saint majority population, and Hawaii, where it has been outlawed since existence.

However, despite 48 states offering some form of gambling, the only states that currently permit iGaming are: New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Michigan.

Connecticut

• Mohegan Sun (powered by FanDuel), DraftKings Casino, Sweepstakes Casinos (Winstar)

Delaware

• The only operator is Rush Street Interactive via its BetRivers platform

Michigan

• Over 15 commercial and tribal operators available ranging from: MGM, MotorCity and Greektown Casino as well as 12 tribal operators

New Jersey

• 39 operators available consisting of: Caesars Palace Online Casino, BetMGM, Hard Rock Bet, bet365, DraftKings Casino, FanDuel, Golden Nugget, Bally, Borgata Casino, BetRivers, Party Casino and more lesser-known operators

Rhode Island

• Bally’s Casino is the sole supplier in this state

Pennsylvania

• 13 casinos consisting of: BetMGM, Fanatics, DraftKings Casino, PENN Entertainment, FanDuel Casino and Caesars Palace Online Casino

West Virginia

• 10 casinos available including Golden Nugget, BetRivers, Penn Interactive, WynnBet, BetMGM, FanDuel, PointsBet, William Hill and DraftKings Casino

US Gambling Market Statistics

According to Yahoo Finance, the US online gambling market is expected to see extremely accelerated growth by 2029. In relation to new market research, the expected growth rate from 2024-2029 is to be 16.52% annually. This prediction would surge gross gaming revenue from its 2022 revenue of $5.02 billion to a two-fold $10.98 billion by 2029.

In response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, online gambling saw a wealth of new users in the US; due to bettors not being physically able to enter a casino or sportsbook. States that were most positively impacted by this were the ones that had opened up to online gaming prior to the pandemic, such as: Delaware (2012), New Jersey (2013), Pennsylvania (2017), Michigan (2019) and West Virginia (2019).

According to the American Gaming Association, in 2022, commercial gaming in the United States generated approximately $55.4 billion in revenue, a nearly 85% increase over 2020, when COVID-19 caused widespread industry shutdown. Likewise iGaming saw a huge increase from 2020 of $1.55bn rising to $6.16bn in 2023; an increase of 297%.

As of 2023, total gaming revenue, in the US, stands at $66.65 billion, a rise of 122% when compared to 2020’s revenue. In fact, between 2022 and 2023, the interest in iGaming, and revenue from iGaming increased massively; rising 22.9% in GGR; showing a consistent annual growth, especially as more states open up.

New Jersey has been known as the largest market for regulated online gambling in the US as 39 legal and licensed online casinos compete for the overall market. It was recently reported that New Jersey made $1.92bn, alone, from iGaming in 2023.

However, it turns out that Michigan is knocking New Jersey of its pedestal, as during 2023, Michigan outperformed New Jersey’s iGaming stats by $115,500, making Michigan the new largest iGaming market in the US.

The Future of iGaming in the US

Every year, gross gaming revenue, coming from iGaming in the US, is on the rise. 2023 set a new quarterly record during Q4, with a record quarterly revenue of $1.68 billion; up 20.6% from Q4 2022 and as more states begin to legalize iGaming, these records will continue to be beaten.

There are a lot of pros and cons for legalizing online casinos, the main positives being revenue, and state taxes, however there is also a fear that online casinos could put those smaller brick-and-mortar casinos underwater. Problems surrounding land-based casinos is mainly fear that smaller competitors will get priced out and won’t be able to compete with the big dogs like MGM and FanDuel Casino.

Similar to how DraftKings and Fanatics dominate the online sports betting market, making it almost impossible for smaller sportsbooks to get noticed. And with over 1,000 casinos in the US, across commercial and tribal, how many of them will be able to keep running if they’re competing with the likes of Bally’s and bet365 for example? Could iGaming revenue rise, but cause a huge decrease to brick-and-mortar revenue in the meantime? Only time will tell…