US commercial gaming revenue falls 0.6% in August as sports betting drops 15.6%

Figures from the American Gaming Association, put US commercial gaming revenue at $6.48bn in August, a 0.6% decrease compared with the same month a year earlier. According to the association's Revenue Tracker, a 15.6% fall in sports betting revenue more than offset gains made by traditional casino gaming and iGaming.

Traditional casino gaming revenue rose 0.9% to $4.44bn. Slot machines generated $3.25bn, up 1%, and table game revenue increased 2.1% to $885.91m. The AGA attributed part of the table games growth to the recent expansion of Resorts World New York City.

At $1bn, sports betting revenue was 15.6% lower, while the amount wagered reached $10.89bn. Year on year, handle slipped 0.7%, and the hold rate came in at 9.2%, compared with 10.8% in August of last year. According to the AGA, two factors shaped handle: bettors' access to sports betting via prediction markets, and college football getting under way later than usual. Apart from June and July, when the World Cup gave the market a lift, handle has posted year-on-year declines every month since December 2025.

iGaming brought in $1.03bn, an increase of 12.3% compared with a year earlier. The AGA noted that, with no new markets opening, the segment's expansion has kept slowing.

Tax revenue for state programmes from regulated gaming came to $1.46bn in August, 1.5% below the figure a year earlier, and the sports betting share of that tax revenue was down 14%. The AGA pointed to skill-machine operators, sweepstakes casinos and platforms that take illegal sports bets through prediction markets as factors weighing on collections, noting that these operators do not pay state gaming taxes.

The AGA estimates that state governments have missed out on roughly $1.56bn in potential gaming tax revenue since the beginning of 2025 because prediction market platforms take sports bets through a backdoor. Funding for items such as senior pension plans and responsible gaming initiatives is among what the association says suffers from the shortfall.