Combating Illegal Gambling
Driving Action Against
Illegal Gambling
AGA is committed to stopping illegal gambling by partnering with law enforcement and lawmakers to develop national, state, and local opportunities for action and engagement. AGA’s research on all forms of illegal gambling helps strengthen partnerships with elected officials, law enforcement, and regulators to combat this national problem that’s siphoning tax revenues from states and localities and tarnishing our highly regulated industry’s reputation.
We stop and thwart illegal gambling by partnering with law enforcement and policymakers. With the help of AGA research, we continue to strengthen partnerships with elected officials, law enforcement and regulators to combat this national problem.
Sizing the Illegal and Unregulated Gaming Markets in the U.S.
The legal gaming industry is among the most highly regulated industries in America. AGA estimates that Americans bet more than $510.9 billion a year with illegal and unregulated operators. This costs the legal industry $44.2 billion in gaming revenue and state governments $13.3 billion in lost tax revenue.
To empower the industry and its allies in the fight against illegal gambling, the AGA launched StopIllegalGambling.org as a way to highlight statistics on the detrimental effects of illegal gambling and equip users with effective tools to identify illegal operators.
Encouraging Department of Justice to Crack Down on Illegal Gambling
In a letter to the U.S. Attorney General, the AGA outlines the pervasive nature of illegal gambling and the threat these unregulated operators pose to consumers, state economies and the legal gaming industry as part of the association’s ongoing initiative to stamp out the illegal market.
Eradicating Illegal Sports Betting
How offshore operators—and those who support them—break U.S. law.
For decades, regulated sportsbooks in Nevada offered the only legal sports betting in the U.S. However, with the advent of the internet, illegal bookies have taken advantage of lax or even non-existent laws in other countries to set up online sportsbooks that target American customers. These illegal sportsbooks prey on unsuspecting Americans, despite claims of regulation and licensure in their home countries.
How Unregulated Gaming Machines Endanger Consumers
The robust licensing and operational standards for all gaming companies are essential to the casino gaming industry’s success. Unfortunately, unregulated and illegal gaming machines continue to proliferate across the country and threaten the economic benefits and consumer protections provided by the regulated industry.
AGA’s white paper provides an overview of the regulatory environment for the casino gaming industry, specifically gaming machines found on the casino floor, and analyzes how those standards ensure consumer safety while generating significant tax revenue for states.
WASHINGTON – American Gaming Association President and CEO Bill Miller released the following statement on the revised interim regulatory guidelines that the Small Business Administration issued today for the Paycheck Protection Program:
“The Small Business Administration (SBA) today released revised regulatory guidelines that will allow additional small businesses that derive revenue from legal gaming to participate in the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). While these changes represent some progress, they fall woefully short of fully addressing antiquated, discriminatory policies that have, to date, restricted small gaming companies from accessing critical loan support made available through the CARES Act. As a result of this half-measure, small gaming businesses that have closed to comply with government orders will continue to be denied access to this critical lifeline to support their employees.
“The American Gaming Association (AGA) is grateful for the leadership of a significant group of bipartisan, bicameral members of Congress who have advocated tirelessly for equal treatment of small commercial and tribal gaming operations in their communities. As Congress seeks to put additional resources behind the PPP, we look forward to working with them to make it clear that ‘we are all in this together’ by rejecting the SBA’s dangerous view that gaming employees don’t deserve assistance during this unprecedented crisis.
“The AGA will continue to strongly advocate for relief that supports the displaced gaming workforce and gaming companies of all sizes through this crisis.”
Background
- Last Thursday, the AGA wrote President Trump regarding the Paycheck Protection Program.
- Dozens of bipartisan members of Congress also called the administration and wrote letters regarding gaming’s exclusion from the program.
- Casino gaming is vital to local small businesses, supporting 350,000 small business jobs and delivering $52 billion annually in small business revenue, including construction, manufacturing, retail, and wholesale firms.
- All 989 commercial and tribal casino properties have shuttered their doors because of the COVID-19 pandemic. More than half of the 1.8 million jobs gaming supports are at non-gaming businesses, such as restaurants and local shops, which are all dramatically affected by a local casino’s closure.
- In many states, gaming pays among the highest tax rates of any industry with $10.7 billion in gaming taxes and tribal revenue share payments that support fundamental and critical programs from infrastructure to education.
Overview
The American Gaming Association’s comprehensive Commercial Gaming Revenue Database gives members the ability to quickly benchmark domestic gaming performance in real time. The database aggregates millions of historical data points published by state regulatory authorities into an easily filterable Excel spreadsheet, saving AGA members significant research time or third-party subscription costs.
36 COMMERCIAL GAMING JURISDICTIONS
300+ CASINO PROPERTIES, LICENSEES, ONLINE BRANDS, MARKETS + MORE
1M+ DATA POINTS
Features
- Monthly property- and market-level data entries dating back to the inception of commercial casino gaming in most states, allowing users to identify trends in U.S. land-based commercial gaming revenue and taxes.
- Where available, includes data on machine coin-in, table drop, casino admissions, operating days, gambling positions and other variables, allowing further contextualization of performance metrics.
- Includes sports betting and iGaming data at the brand, licensee or state level.
- Key metrics are summarized at the state level and visualized through a series of interactive pivot tables.
- The dataset is continuously updated as new revenue reports are published by state regulators.
- Further variables may be incorporated in the future, such as property location metrics, owner/operator, number of employees or tax allocation.
Contact the Research Team for Member-Exclusive Access
| David Forman Vice President, Research |
Anton Severin Director, Research |
|---|
AGA Commercial Gaming Database Overview, By State
The AGA Commercial Gaming Database is provided to members of the American Gaming Association for their exclusive, internal use.
A Healthy Tribal Gaming Market
A Vital Sector Supporting Tribes and Local Communities
The tribal gaming industry has grown from the small bingo halls of the late 1970s to global event destinations. Nearly 250 tribes operate more than 500 tribal casinos or other gaming locations across the country and generate 38 percent of all annual gaming revenue in the U.S.
This tremendous growth has enabled tribal gaming operators to invest directly back into tribal communities, providing diverse career opportunities, supporting local businesses, and funding critical tribal government programs and initiatives. The AGA is committed to partnering with our member tribes as they continue to provide key economic benefits and jobs to their communities.
Recent research released shows that the gaming industry supports 350,000 small business jobs and is responsible for $52 billion in small business revenues. The report, The Gaming Industry’s Impact on Small Business Development in the United States, was completed by Spectrum Gaming Group and commissioned by AGA.
To highlight the report’s findings, AGA launched its nationwide American Gaming Small Business Jobs Tour. The tour will scan the country to showcase gaming’s strong, positive impacts on local, small businesses that are driving Main Street’s success and American employment. AGA plans to work with a wide range of member companies to showcase their strong partnership with small businesses all around the country.
Resources
Press Coverage Summary
Las Vegas Review-Journal – Road trip by AGA slated to explain how casinos help small businesses
Providence Business News – Report: Casinos in R.I. contribute $1B in economic activity
Politico – Influence
CDC Gaming Reports – AGA: Maryland Casinos Drive Opportunity and Growth for Small Businesses
Casino City Times – Gaming industry important for small businesses, says AGA
CDC Gaming Reports – AGA highlights gaming industry’s positive impacts on small business
Casino.org News – Gaming Industry’s Positive Economic Impact Theme of AGA Small Business Jobs Tour
CDC Gaming Reports – New Study: Casino Industry is Essential to Small Business Growth
AGA Speakers
Bill Miller
President and CEO
CEO Roundtable: a fireside chat with the AGA and the CGA
The IAGA CEO Roundtable brings the leading executives of North America’s three largest gaming organizations together to discuss their opinions on the hot topics facing the industry within their respective markets. Covering a wide range of issues including what can and should be done to stop the proliferation of unregulated and unlawful gaming including grey machine proliferation, the lessons learned from the pandemic and their predictions for the year ahead, this is unique opportunity to hear from the leaders who help shape public policy and perception about gaming in all its forms.
Moderated by Daron Dorsey, the Executive Director for the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers (AGEM), the panelists include:
- Paul Burns, President and CEO, Canadian Gaming Association
- Bill Miller, President and CEO, American Gaming Association
Gambling advertising’s race to acquire customers: are we heading for a crash?
In late 2018, Italy’s advertising and communications regulator Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni (AGCOM) introduced a blanket gambling advertising ban aimed at reducing rates of gambling addiction and ratcheting up player protection efforts. This quickly drew the attention of regulators and legislators elsewhere, resulting in tighter advertising restrictions or consideration of bans in other European countries. Given the exploding North American sports betting markets and the corresponding dramatic increase in player acquisition advertising, are we perilously heading toward a similar fate? This panel will take a deep dive into gambling advertising bans, debating issues like whether the European experience could be replicated in the US, whether bans or tighter restrictions have an impact on problem gambling, whether they represent a perceived or real failure of the industry to implement appropriate controls and safeguards, and what effect a bombardment of gambling advertising has on the industry’s reputation. Is gambling advertising a regulatory issue? A responsibility issue? Our panel will aim to answer these questions and more.
Moderated by Cait DeBaun, Vice President – Strategic Communications and Responsibility for the American Gaming Association (AGA), the panelists include:
- Chris Hebert, Gaming Division Director, Louisiana Attorney General’s Office
- Louis Rogacki, Deputy Director, New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement
WASHINGTON – American Gaming Association (AGA) Senior Vice President, Public Affairs Sara Slane issued the following statement regarding Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s statement on legalized sports betting.
“The casino gaming industry shares Senator Schumer’s goal in preserving the integrity of sporting events and providing consumer protections. Federal oversight of sports betting was an abject failure for 26 years only contributing to a thriving illegal market with no consumer protections and safeguards. New federal mandates are a nonstarter.
“The casino industry is working with stakeholders to ensure the proper protections for consumers, and the integrity of bets and sporting contests are included in state policy, universally implemented by all operators in those states, and overseen by effective state and tribal gaming regulators.”
About AGA: The American Gaming Association is the premier national trade group representing the $261 billion U.S. casino industry, which supports 1.8 million jobs nationwide. AGA members include commercial and tribal casino operators, gaming suppliers and other entities affiliated with the gaming industry. It is the mission of the AGA to achieve sound policies and regulations consistent with casino gaming’s modern appeal and vast economic contributions.
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WASHINGTON – American Gaming Association (AGA) Senior Vice President, Public Affairs Sara Slane issued the following statement regarding Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s statement on legalized sports betting.
“The casino gaming industry shares Senator Schumer’s goal in preserving the integrity of sporting events and providing consumer protections. Federal oversight of sports betting was an abject failure for 26 years only contributing to a thriving illegal market with no consumer protections and safeguards. New federal mandates are a nonstarter.
“The casino industry is working with stakeholders to ensure the proper protections for consumers, and the integrity of bets and sporting contests are included in state policy, universally implemented by all operators in those states, and overseen by effective state and tribal gaming regulators.”
About AGA: The American Gaming Association is the premier national trade group representing the $261 billion U.S. casino industry, which supports 1.8 million jobs nationwide. AGA members include commercial and tribal casino operators, gaming suppliers and other entities affiliated with the gaming industry. It is the mission of the AGA to achieve sound policies and regulations consistent with casino gaming’s modern appeal and vast economic contributions.
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When the COVID-19 pandemic dealt the gaming industry its most difficult year ever, the industry rose to the challenge by coming to the aid of frontline workers, leading the way for businesses across the country to responsibly reopen, and doubling down on its commitment to supporting its communities.
Impact of COVID-19 on Gaming
These efforts began right away, with gaming companies helping solve the nationwide shortage of personal protective equipment and testing. Casino operators combined to donate hundreds of thousands of masks and additional protective gear, while also leveraging extensive supply chain resources to help procure and distribute COVID-19 tests. Some casinos were converted into COVID-19 testing facilities, and more recently, vaccination centers. As Scott Kerbs, public relations manager at the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, attested, “These valuable testing resources have served to safeguard the health of community members and visitors while supporting the safe and measured reopening of our economy.”
When casino properties were forced to close their doors due to the pandemic, commercial and tribal gaming operators donated millions of meals to in-need families in gaming communities throughout the United States. Many casinos continued to pay and support their employees while casino floors stood dormant, while gaming operators and suppliers set up emergency relief funds to provide financial assistance to current and former employees.
From gaming suppliers to sportsbook operators, charitable donations from the gaming industry continued to support those in need throughout the pandemic, and when it became safe reopen businesses, the gaming industry once again took leadership. Implementing rigorous health and safety protocols with the help of innovative, contactless solutions, casinos helped write the playbook for businesses of all industries across the U.S. to effectively reopen while prioritizing the health of employees and customers.
“The best thing I can say about the gaming industry during the pandemic is that to them it wasn’t a competition to see who could reopen their properties first...They did everything they could to help each other with the safety and security measures that were put in place to protect people who came to town.” - Deputy Chief Andrew Walsh, Homeland Security Division, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department
Casinos & Communities: COVID-19 Response tells these stories and more, once again demonstrating that, when the chips are down, gaming is all-in on its commitment to its communities.
State Advocacy & Regulatory Engagement
We advocate for legislative policy that encourages competition and innovation, working closely with gaming regulators to ensure a strong and sustainable legal gaming industry.
State Legislatures
We work with state legislatures across the country to advance policy that creates a strong gaming marketplace and combats illegal gambling. These efforts include supporting legislation to create legal, regulated sports betting markets and to ban so-called skill game machines from proliferating across the country.
Regulators
We engage with state gaming regulators to share views on policy implementation, provide them with resources that can assist efforts against illegal and unregulated gambling, and update gaming policy to reflect the dynamic nature of the gaming industry.
Regulator Roundtable
The annual AGA Regulator Roundtable provides a personalized opportunity for regulators and gaming policy stakeholders to hear about the latest developments and challenges facing gaming states.
Resources
American Gaming Association President and CEO Bill Miller released the following statement on the economic toll the COVID-19 outbreak is having on the U.S. casino gaming industry:
“An estimated 616,000 casino gaming employees are prevented from working because of the important health and safety decisions made by state governments. Nearly all (95%) of the country’s 465 commercial casinos, and eight-in-ten (83%*) of the country’s 524 tribal casinos, have shuttered their doors.
“The impact on our employees, their families, and communities is staggering, and the implications extend far beyond the casino floor. Leading technology companies that supply the industry, and the nearly 350,000 small business employees that rely on gaming for their livelihood, are also feeling the devastating blow of this unprecedented public health crisis.
“The federal government must act swiftly and comprehensively to get America’s hospitality employees, and the small businesses that support them, back to work as soon as it is safe. Gaming employees, their families, and communities are bearing the brunt of this economic standstill and will continue to suffer if Congress and the administration don’t take immediate action.
“In total, these mass closures will rob the U.S. economy of $43.5 billion in economic activity if American casinos remain closed for the next eight weeks.
“Gaming is an economic engine, employing millions of local residents, generating community investment through vital tax revenue, and supporting small businesses in communities all across the country.”
Background
- Casino closures risk nearly $74 billion in total wages annually for workers and their families.
- Casino gaming supports $41 billion in annual tax revenue and tribal revenue sharing nationwide – essential support for local hospitals, first responders, and vital public services.
- Half the jobs our industry supports are at non-gaming businesses such as restaurants and local shops – all will be dramatically affected by a local casino’s closure.
- Casino gaming is vital to local small businesses, delivering $52 billion annually in small business revenue, including construction, manufacturing, retail, and wholesale firms.
More information on COVID-19’s impact on U.S. casino industry workers and local communities is available here.
*Updated to reflect new closures since date of release