Ask the Slot Expert: How much do casinos win each day?

Question: How much do casinos get from players on a daily basis?

Answer: The answer to this question is relatively easy to find online. Multiple sources have this information. Publicly traded corporations publish revenue figures in their annual reports. State gaming commissions, in addition, frequently post casino revenue by casino on their websites.

Let's start with a high-level overview and then drill down. According to a report by RubinBrown, 581 commercial casinos (which they define as traditional brick-and-mortar casinos, racinos and slot parlors regulated by state gaming boards or state lotteries) had gaming revenues of $38.67 billion, for an average daily win of $181,851 per casino.

As they say in real estate, the three most important factors are location, location and location. Average daily win varies quite a bit by location. Someone at a Las Vegas casino seminar at which I was presenter commented to me that he thought that slot machines won about $1,000 or more per day. I said that in Las Vegas the figure is more like $100 per day. If the figure were more like $1000 per day, there wouldn't have been any concerns that the Mirage would be able to service its debt when it first opened. On riverboats, though, where people were lined up waiting to play machines and the machines had very little downtime, machines could earn $200-$300 per day. Better than in Las Vegas, where a machine sits idle for a good part of the day — except when you want to play it! — but still not close to $1,000 per day.

According to the same report, Nevada's 334 commercial casinos too in $11,256.34 million, for a daily win of $92,080 per casino. For Jersey's casinos, which had a tough time after casinos opened in New York and Pennsylvania and gamblers no longer had to make a two-hour drive to pull a handle, won $2,406.01 million over seven casinos, for an average daily win of $939,113 per casino. Pennsylvania's 12 casinos won #3,213.42 million for a daily win of $731,653. Illinois' 10 casinos won $1,413.48 million for a daily average of $386,196. Mississippi's 28 casinos won $2,120.06 million for a daily win of $206,875.

Keep in mind that Nevada's numbers include any casino operation with revenues of $1,000,000 or more, so they include small slot parlors in addition to the strip resorts, which are more comparable to the casinos operations in other states.

The report also has a section of daily revenue per Electronic Gaming Device (EGD). EGD is a technical, catch-all name for traditional slot machines, video poker machines, video keno machines, video blackjack machines and video lottery terminals — essentially anything other than a table game, live or electronic.

Nevada's slots, as I said before, trail the others with a daily win of $134.22. (I don't know about you, but I'd be happy with an average win of $134 for each day I went to the casino.) New Jersey's slot did about twice as well with a daily win of $288.16. Pennsylvania's slots came in at $243.37 per day, Illinois' slots won $301.31 per day and Mississippi's $169.20 per day. You can see the relative affluence on the east coast contributing to the high slot win rate there and the limited availability of slots for the demand in the mid-west in Illinois number.

For information about a specific casino, check the Investor Information link on its or its parent corporation's website and the local state gaming commission's website.