In 2021, the American gaming industry produced its highest-grossing year-to-date.
Overall, the industry landed around $53 billion in revenue, a 20% increase that broke the previous record held in 2019. The official figures released from the American Gaming Association also highlight that 2020’s Covid-plagued year was also put to shame by 2021’s numbers, a year in which the industry took “just” $30 billion.
As 2021 made soaring profits due to a massive increase in sports betting and the rapid number of states legalizing gambling, 2022 could exceed last year’s profits by a significant margin.
The legalization of sports betting and online gambling, throughout 33 states and the district of Columbia, has seen bookmakers and casinos such as BetMGM and Caesars set full-year revenue records.
The American Gaming Association CEO, Bill Miller, expects the rising profits to continue in 2022. However, the gaming industry is “still reliant on the full return of travel and large events, which requires a safe health environment and open economy.”
CEO of MGM Resorts, Bill Hornbuckle, has already noticed some critical changes in Las Vegas. Following the early-year cancellations due to the Omicron variant, Covid-19 cases have plummeted, resulting in vast rises of hotel bookings and “once again were starting to outpace 2019 levels.”
With the pre-pandemic tourism numbers of 2019 reaching 42.5 million in Nevada, the success of 2021 with just 32 million should give an inkling as to the trajectory 2022 could reach when normality sets back in.
Online Gambling 2022
Worldwide, the online gambling industry is expected to reach an astonishing revenue figure of around $1 trillion.
The popularity of online gambling is reaching new heights, and so are its gambling apps. We live in a generation where people consistently rely on their mobile devices. And while tech innovators look towards producing more excellent user-friendly apps for gamblers, it’s difficult to envision a year where the industry won’t triumph.
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In addition, the pandemic lockdowns and segregation from bricks and mortar casinos/sportsbooks have driven the number of mobile app downloads. As customers have become more familiar with their gambling apps and devices, the mobile gambling industry is expected to own a 59% share of the gaming market by the end of 2022 – a figure that sees 1 in 2 gamers making use of online gambling.
Cryptocurrency
Most online gamblers and sports bettors have become familiar with the exclusive benefits of utilizing cryptocurrencies – particularly Bitcoin.
The speed of Crypto-based transactions is enhanced beyond the cliché methods, providing robust privacy, transparency, and practical anonymity.
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Countless casinos and sportsbooks are focussing their transactions exclusively with Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, or at the very least, promoting the advantages that it provides. We should anticipate these newfound methods to increase in popularity during 2022, especially when it solves a long-term solution to online fraud and data theft.
Online Sports Wagering
Sports betting has evolved into a massive component of the online gambling industry.
As of 2022, you can wager on almost any sport, and sportsbooks continue to create ample betting markets to give their customers an overwhelming choice of sporting situations to gamble on.
Similar to the gaming industry, online sports betting received massive amounts of new customers because of the Covid-19 pandemic. While games and physical shops were off-limits, sports fans were able to get involved in the action by using sports betting apps.
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As pandemic restrictions ease, sports fans will continue to use their sportsbook apps because of their comfortability. Watching an NBA game live from courtside will become the stomping grounds of live bettors looking to gain the edge with their mobile devices in hand ready to make some picks.
However, as 2022 plays out, we’re almost guaranteed that the gaming industry will yet again break its current revenue records. Between tech innovations, the easing of pandemic restrictions, and a newly found thirst for online gambling, it’s inevitable the industry is in a great place.
