Last year saw aggregated gross gaming revenues for the 460 commercial casinos in the United States increase by 3.4% year-on-year to reach $40.28 billion as the 215 venues located in Nevada once again led the way courtesy of a combined tally of $11.57 billion.

Las Vegas Strip reigned supreme:

According to a report from GGRAsia, the figures come from the new State of the States: The AGA Survey of the Commercial Casino Industry (pdf) investigation published yesterday by the American Gaming Association (AGA). The examination also found that the Las Vegas Strip was the most lucrative gambling locale in the country as its aggregated gross gaming revenues for 2017 rose by 1.3% year-on-year to hit $6.46 billion.

Atlantic City remained in second spot:

The study moreover determined that Atlantic City was in second place in terms of the United States’ commercial casino sector in 2017 with its seven venues recording aggregated gross gaming revenues of $2.66 billion, which represented an improvement of 2.2% year-on-year.

Baltimore/Washington overtook New York City:

Interestingly, the investigation clarified that 2017 saw the area known as ‘Chicagoland,’ which encompasses all of the casinos in northern Indiana and Illinois, remained in third spot with aggregated gross gaming revenues of $1.97 billion while the venues in and around Baltimore and Washington, DC, overtook those of New York City to claim fourth position courtesy of their $1.77 billion tally.

Aggregated gross gaming revenues for venues in ‘The Big Apple’ were reported as reaching $1.57 billion in 2017 while the three properties in Detroit were not far behind thanks to an annual total that came to $1.41 billion.

Gulf Coast tally approached Philadelphia’s:

Rounding out the top ten and the casinos in Philadelphia and along the Gulf Coast vied for seventh and eighth spot last year as their tallies reached $1.25 billion and $1.18 billion respectively followed by those in the St Louis area at $1.03 billion and the Pocono Mountains at $990.5 million.

Macau lost out again:

Perhaps most surprisingly, the AGA investigation determined that aggregated gross gaming revenues for commercial casinos in the United States last year were over 22% higher than the tally for Macau despite the former Portuguese enclave recording an annual swell of some 19.1%. This was the third consecutive year that the Chinese city had not occupied top spot after first assuming the dominant global position in 2012.

Tribal gaming on the up:

In terms of 2017 aggregated gross gaming revenues from the United States’ collection of 494 tribal gambling venues, the investigation reportedly found an almost 3.9% increase year-on-year to $32.4 billion with the industry having paid approximately $16 billion in taxes to federal, state and local authorities.

Annual tax revenues surpassed $9 billion:

Finally, GGRAsia reported that the AGA study determined that the commercial casino industry in the United States had handed over some $9.23 billion in tax during the course of 2017. This figure purportedly represented 23% of all gross gaming revenues, which was contrasted against Macau’s effective 39% tax rate.