UNITED States casinos and the makers of the games found inside had a $240-billion economic impact and employed 1.7 million people in 2013, a study shows.
That includes $38 billion in local, state and federal taxes the industry said it paid last year in gambling fees, property taxes, income taxes and more. Unlike prior studies, the report included the impact tribal gambling and some legal online gaming has had on the economy.
The American Gaming Association was expected to announce the results of the study at a Tuesday news conference. The Associated Press obtained an advance copy.
The group’s annual G2E Global Gaming Expo is being held this week at the Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas.
The study, done by Oxford Economics, took into account everything, from wagers by gamblers doubling-down to tourists buying gas, meals or tickets to a show.
The numbers didn’t surprise David Schwartz, director of the Gaming Research Center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
“I think it’s an important part of telling the whole story,” he said. That story, he said, includes not only casino gambling but the industry’s impact as hoteliers, retailers and others.
What got the gambling industry to this point isn’t going to keep it thriving, though, said Geoff Freeman, the association’s president. With growing competition, Freeman said the industry needs to seek regulatory changes that can help make the business more efficient and free up companies to be more innovative, he said.
The industry has suffered particularly in Atlantic City, where four casinos have closed this year leaving 8,000 people out of work.