Study: Gaming contributes $240 billion to U.S. economy

Tapanee “Jib Jib” Songsee deals blackjack Monday, April 21, 2014, at the Cromwell.

The gaming industry contributed $240 billion to the U.S. economy in 2013, as much as the state budgets of New York and Texas combined, according to a study released today.

The American Gaming Association announced the results of the study at a news conference during the first full day of the industry’s Global Gaming Expo, or G2E.

Conducted by Oxford Economics and touted as the first of its kind, the study examined the revenues of commercial casinos, Native American casinos, gaming equipment manufacturers and spending from casino patrons at local businesses.

Casinos themselves generated upwards of $81 billion in revenue, and makers of gaming equipment contributed nearly $6 billion, the study found.

The rest came from other economic activity, such as patron spending at local restaurants, shops, hotels and other businesses.

On the employment side, casinos supported more than 1.7 million jobs nationwide and generated

$38 billion in tax revenues, according to the study.

Of the total jobs supported, 734,000 were directly employed by the gaming industry; the remaining workers were indirectly employed as a result of the industry’s economic activity, according to the AGA.

“You can think of what would happen if the gaming industry disappeared in Las Vegas and all the employees of these casinos...no longer had jobs and no longer had incomes — how that would affect everything from the grocery stores to the movie theaters to the banks and so forth,” Adam Sacks of Oxford Economics said.

In light of the study’s findings, the AGA’s Sara Rayme called on lawmakers to adopt favorable gaming policies, such as more friendly tax rates.

Today’s findings come as the industry seeks to highlight its positive influence, particularly in the northeast.

There, Massachusetts voters are preparing to vote on whether to ban casinos in their state. And the closure of four Atlantic City casinos this year has cost thousands of workers their jobs.

The struggles of Atlantic City are a result of increased competition from casinos popping up throughout the region, Sacks said.

“It’s not a function of the demand for casino gaming going down,” he said. “In all, the industry is on a continued growth track. But the particular local competition issues within the northeast are obviously creating challenges within Atlantic City.”

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