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Brick-and-mortar casinos oftentimes get treated like dinosaurs in this betting industry. Dinosaurs because legal sports betting is all the rage, plus iGaming is slowly picking up favor too. But perception is not reality.
The American Gaming Association is the preeminent data collector of the industry. They have a fresh report on Q3 industry earnings. However, we’re only focused on the physical casino side of things — not the online revenue.
Collectively, the casino states produced $9.1 billion in slot-machine revenue, good enough for a 1.3 percent gain compared to Q3 2023. Table games is where business really fell off a cliff though. Table revenue was $2.42 billion, a loss of 8.3 percent versus last year.
Per the AGA, there are 27 states with physical casinos of some kind. The results for these states were completely split. Of those 27, 13 reported year-over-year losses on the brick-and-mortar side, while the other 14 came up positive.
Delaware is one of those 27 states. Matter of fact, Delaware was pretty early to the casino business boom — first legalizing it in 1995. The state has three commercial casinos, including Bally’s Dover Casino Resort, Casino at Delaware Park, and Harrington Raceway & Casino. Comparatively, these casinos are outperforming other states. Keep reading to get the full breakdown.
Delaware Has Third Best Year-Over-Year Growth
Among the 13 states that did grow its physical casino business, Delaware ranked third best overall. The only states ahead of it were Nebraska and Virginia for reasons we’ll get to momentarily. What’s the reason for the success? Well, there’s a few.
One is culture. As we mentioned, betting in Delaware is sort of commonplace. Casino gaming has been legal for about three decades and the state was the first to legalize sports betting after the federal ban was lifted — though the state didn’t actually launch until just last year.
Reason two is accessibility. Delaware is the second-smallest state in the country by land — its 1,949 square miles is only bigger than Rhode Island at 1,214 square miles. So it’s actually pretty easy to get to the state’s three commercial casinos. This isn’t always the case. Take New York betting, for example. The casinos are all upstate, which is far enough of a drive (or train ride) for the city slickers to avoid completely.
Reason three is a pandemic bump. You see, there was still some hangover of pandemic policies in Q3 of 2023. Both Delaware Park Casino and Bally’s Dover Casino Resort went away from their 24/7 open policies, only to return this year. Delaware Park went 24/7 in January then Bally’s followed suit in July.
These three reasons were the main contributors to Delaware experiencing an almost 8 percent bump in revenue from last year. Honestly, those are pretty monster numbers for a casino business as mature as Delaware’s. Let’s level-set that growth in the next section.
Other States That Boomed In Q3
Remember how we mentioned only Nebraska and Virginia grew revenue versus Delaware in Q3? Those too have easy explanations. Nebraska topped the country thanks to a brand-new casino opening in August. That’s when WarHorse Casino opened in Omaha — the first casino in the state’s biggest city (the others are located in more rural areas). It features 800 slot machines and 20 table games so the revenue increase is easy to attribute.
As for Virginia, they’re benefitting from one big casino too in the Rivers Casino Portsmouth. This opened in early 2023, but it’s still seeing year-over-year growth as it remains a hot commodity for Virginia bettors. Caesars is opening a brand-new casino in December so expect to see Virginia’s business continue to blossom.
This makes Delaware’s YOY improvement all the more impressive as they didn’t benefit from a new property opening up. Its gains just came from a flat-out healthy marketplace.
After Delaware, the list of casino states gaining ground were Illinois, Indiana, South Dakota, and New York. But getting back to Delaware, there’s reason to believe things will get better in the years ahead. Let us explain why.
Delaware Could Have Another Revenue Bump Next Year
Like Nebraska, there’s casino building going on in Delaware too. It’s not a new property, but it’s an expansion of Delaware Park. The casino is not far removed from pumping $10 million into its casino floor, but they’re back for more. Construction has started for an outdoor patio — yes, outdoor gaming.
The patio is being planned for 10,000 square feet. That’s big enough to accommodate 250 new slot machines. More than that, the outdoor vibes might be enough to convince gamblers to bet more.
“Post-COVID, one of the things we’ve learned is that people like being outdoors, they like having their space, they like fresh air, and a lot of people are wearing masks,” said Delaware Park President Terry Glebocki. “This gives an option to people looking for that fresh air experience. Because this patio has so much open air, it’s considered an outdoor space.”
The best part? The Delaware Park patio is expected to be open by spring of 2025, which will be here sooner than you think.
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