Inside Gaming: Record Growth for Tribal Casinos; Sportsbooks Prepare for Olympic Games

This week’s installment of Inside Gaming begins with a report showing Native American-owned casinos enjoyed a collective record revenue increase in 2015, tells how Las Vegas sportsbooks are planning to take wagers on Olympics events for the first time in 15 years, shares news of illegal slot machines operating in Chile, and concludes with the story of a traveler winning nearly half a million dollars last night in McCarran Airport.

Tribal Casinos Report Largest Revenue Gain in a Decade

On Tuesday the National Indian Gaming Commission announced that gross gaming revenue among tribal casinos totaled $29.9 billion in 2015, a 5% increase over the previous year and the largest jump in a decade.

According to NIGC Chairman Jonadev O. Chaudhuri, “the strong regulation that tribes as well as federal regulators and other stake holders provides has played a key role in the stability and growth of the Indian gaming industry by providing consistency and predictability.”

The 5% increase dwarfs recent year-over-year increases that have been reported by the NIGC. In 2014 tribal casinos were up 1.5% overall, in 2013 just 0.5%, and in 2012 they increased in revenue 2.7%.

The NIGC’s findings include revenue reports from 474 tribal gaming operations run by 238 different tribes.

All seven of the designated regions across the country saw gains in 2015, with tribal casinos in the Sacramento region including the Thunder Valley Casino Resort (pictured above) increasing their revenue by 8.0% year-over-year. Other regions showing substantial increases were the Oklahoma City region (6.7.%) and the Tulsa region (6.5%).

Visit the NIGC for more on the historic gains for tribal casinos in 2015.

Las Vegas Sportsbooks Readying for Rio

The 2016 Summer Olympics are only a couple of weeks away as planning and preparations continue in host city Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Meanwhile Las Vegas sportsbooks are also making plans for the Olympic Games, as they will be taking bets throughout the two-plus weeks of events for the first time since 2001.

Last year the Nevada Gaming Control Board voted to allow sportsbooks in the state to accept wagers on Olympic events, reversing a prohibition that had been in place for 15 years. According to a feature this week in the Los Angeles Times, “experts speculate Nevada books will …

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