Online Casino Revenue Keeps Outpacing Sportsbooks as Players Chase Bigger Bonuses
28 October 2026
Regulated online casino gaming keeps growing faster than sports betting, even though the latter is legal in far more U.S. states. While the number of sports betting states expanded more rapidly, online casino revenue posted back-to-back double-digit gains in 2023 and 2024, driven by bigger bonuses and a more continuous gameplay experience.
The AGA reported that online gaming revenue in the U.S. jumped 23.5% to $2.09 billion in May 2024, with iGaming up 30% to $1.12 billion and online sports betting up 20.4% to $0.97 billion. This followed a 25.6% rise in online casino revenue to $10.5 billion in 2023. In contrast, sports betting revenue fell 14.6% year over year to just $0.95 billion in August 2024.
"Online casino and lotteries were each more than double the size of online sports betting in 2024, according to the AGA, indicating that iGaming continues to be the most lucrative part of the online wagering market," Rosalind Janciewicz, chief of gaming revenue analysis at University of Nevada Las Vegas International Gaming Institute, wrote in a May 2024 report. "This will likely continue to be the case, as the number of states with online sports betting continues to grow rapidly."
Yet the online casino vertical remains available to only about 12% of the U.S. population, compared to 50% or more for sports betting. A key reason is that mobile sports wagering is allowed in far more states, including many that don't offer online casino. "Sports betting is regulated in nearly 30 states, while online casino is still restricted in most," said Kathleen Bias, a gaming lawyer at Greenberg Traurig. "That market access gap is the main reason online casino revenue is growing faster, pound for pound."
Continuous Play Drives Growth
Another reason is that online casino gaming is available 24/7, allowing for high-frequency wagering unconstrained by game schedules. While online sports betting can generate huge wagers on high-profile events, online casino operators are aiming for a steady, continuous stream of revenue per customer.
This steady play volume means globalization of online casino title providers has not put the same pressure on regional operators as it has on mobile sportsbooks. "Think about how FanDuel and DraftKings can effectively do battle to grab the top spots for NBA games," said Todd Schepis, CEO of Boston-based IGT. "On the other hand, while IGT is a global leader in slots, we don't face the same hyper-competition in online casino, since it's not as much about big one-off betting."
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The regulated online casino product also has proven more conducive to bonuses and promos that lead to big balance construction and retention. IGT has utilized high-margin online casino games like slots to balance the bonus rate they can offer on the sports side. "Land-based competitor Caesars sharpened its online rewards strategy ahead of its IGT merger in November 2024, while Michigan has already proven to be more lucrative thanks to online casino bonuses that fund far more action there than on the sportsbook."
Bonuses Fuel Market Expansion
In fact, bonuses and promotions have proven a key tool in the growth of online casinos in the U.S., leading to a boom in slots and table games in mature markets like New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Last September, online sportsbook revenue was $72.9 million in New Jersey, but total online casino revenue reached $84.7 million, even after steady declines from all-time highs two years prior.
"We have found that the net revenue per customer in online casino is far higher than in online sports betting," said Barclays analyst Matt Montour in an October 2024 research note. "For example, one of the established players had 80% of its revenue from online casino versus only 20% for online sports betting. More importantly, the online casino business model has proven to be very efficient in retaining customers and in monetizing them at a higher rate due to higher usage."
In Pennsylvania, online casino revenue nearly doubled the $44.7 million generated by sports wagering to $249.3 million. A key point in this dynamic is that only 11% of sports bettors also played online casino games. Put another way, online casino is a separate bet, let alone habit, that has only been deposited but not tapped by recent market expansion. "You can imagine how important online casino is to the success of operators in states where it is legal, since so few players actually switch from the sportsbook to the online casino," said analyst Nancy Kregal of Jefferies. "Where online casino is legal, it seems to pull ahead of the sportsbook in terms of revenue, even with the sports wagering market growing."
As legal online gaming keeps expanding, all of these trends favor the online casino side of the house. It's still not the same size as online sports betting across the U.S. as a whole. But in cities like Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and the newly legalized ones, it looks like online casino is only getting more lucrative for regulated operators.