The tribal casino operators from the US have issued official figures related to the fiscal year of 2018. Needless to say, they have a very great year behind them.
The National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) issued a report that comes out once a year, overviewing the total tribal casino revenue for the fiscal year of 2018. The data collected is from a total of 501 tribal venues which are operated by 241 tribes, all of them federally recognized. These venues are located in 29 states.
The total reported gaming revenue, according to the annual report, was $33.72 billion. It is actually a 4.1 percent rise compared to a total of $32.4 billion reported from 494 venues in fiscal 2017.
The year-on-year growth has been present in the last decade. In fact, the same growth rate was reported in 2017 compared to 2016, as well as in 2016 compared to 2015.
The numbers were slightly better back in 2015 when there was a 5 percent growth rate. All in all, the rate is present, and when you take a look at total gaming revenue for the past decade, you can notice that the growth is present in every year.
Different Gain
This year is different, though, as every single one of eight geographic regions recognized by the National Indian Gaming Commission reported growth. The current leader is the Portland region, which includes the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska. This region reported an 8.2 percent growth, earning a total of $3.66 billion. One of the reasons is that the area had three more submissions compared to a report from 2017.
The Sacramento region, which includes California and Northern Nevada, is still the biggest region when it comes to finances. There are a total of 73 operations which reported revenue of a $9.28 billion, which is a 3.1 percent increase compared with 2017.
The second place is occupied by the Washington, DC tribal region that includes the states of Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, Louisiana, and New York. This region has reported an increase of 2.6 percent, which is a total of $7.52 billion.
The third place is occupied by the St. Paul region, which includes a total of 95 properties. This region includes the states of Indiana, Michigan, Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. The area generated a total of $4.8 billion, reporting a 4.6 percent increase compared to 2017.
Although no regions showed a decline in numbers in 2018, there was only one in 2017 that reported a drop. It was the Rapid City tribal region, which incorporates Wyoming, Montana, and both Dakotas. Therefore, the entire region reported a very small year-on-year increase in 2018, with a total of 1.5 percent, making $368.6 million in revenue.
Accounting For More
There were a total of 501 submissions in 2018, and only 34 of them accounted for almost half of the total revenue. These facilities earned a total of $15.7 billion, which is a total of 46.6 percent.
Another 59 submissions earned $9.66 billion, which is another 28.6 percent of the entire revenue made by all submissions in 2018. Finally, 52 properties made a total of $3.67 billion, which is 10.9 percent of the revenue.
In other words, a total of 145 facilities earned 86.1 percent of revenue last year, meaning that the rest of the 365 facilities eared roughly 13.9 percent.
Therefore, the gaming industry is healthy and stable, especially when it comes to tribal casinos. Their economic success is in the making, as tribes continue to upgrade their offers and improve the overall state of their casinos.
