Amidst an evolving economic landscape, gaming executives report a positive outlook for the US gambling industry while remaining satisfied with the current business environment. This according to the American Gaming Association’s Gaming Industry Outlook.
An amazing 44% of all US gambling industry executives surveyed characterized the current environment as good, while half say it’s only satisfactory, which mirrors a similar sentiment from Quarter 3 of last year. Meanwhile, executives are more optimistic about future conditions, with 32% of CEOs expecting business conditions to improve over the next six months, up from just 20% last summer.
“Gaming’s record-setting growth over the last three years has set a new standard for industry success,” said AGA President and CEO Bill Miller. “However, as we enter a period of market normalization, continued investment and innovation in offering world-class, responsible entertainment experiences will be required to maintain industry momentum.”
US gambling industry executives have become more positive in their views that overall balance sheet health will improve over the next 6 months (42% net positive), but they expect the pace of revenue growth (13% net negative) and new hiring (22% net negative) to slow. These expectations for decelerating growth have influenced expectations for increases in capital investment and gaming units in operation, with smaller net positive sentiments than before.
These expectations are also informed by evolving macroeconomic challenges. US gambling industry executives report that inflationary or interest rate concerns continue to be a major factor limiting operations (28%), but these have been overtaken by geo-political risk (34%) and uncertainty of the economic environment (34%) as the biggest limiting factors in the most recent Gaming Executive Panel.