Nevada may not be the gambling nirvana it once was, but it’s still the king of the mountain in the US. A report by the American Gaming Association generated to determine the economic impact of commercial casinos for the states. The report shows that Nevada ranks first in almost all of the categories, including gaming generated revenue, number of employees, wages, and number of casinos but it came second to Pennsylvania in tax revenue. The Keystone State was the only state to surpass $1 billion in tax revenue.
Using data from 2013, the AGA report shows that Nevada’s $11.14 billion gaming generated revenue is more than three times than the $3.14 billion second place Pennsylvania earned in the period. Coming in third was New Jersey and its beleaguered Atlantic City casinos, which posted revenue of $2.87 billion. Nipping at New Jersey’s heels are Louisiana and Indiana after the two states earned $2.43 billion and $2.33 billion in revenues, respectively.
Of the combined $37.78 billion all commercial casinos earned in 2013, almost one-third (30.2 percent) comes from Nevada.
In terms of employment, Nevada’s 263 casinos employed 169,908 people. In second place was New Jersey with 32,427 employees, followed by Mississippi with 22,770, Louisiana with 15,706, and Indiana with 12,537 employees.
Nevada’s casinos paid wages, totaling $7.7 billion in 2013. Mississippi came in second with total wages amounting to $831 million, surpassing New Jersey’s $774.6 million figure. Mississippi paid its workers about $56.4 million more than New Jersey, despite employing almost 10,000 less employees than the Garden State. Louisiana ranks fourth on the report with $602.6 million in wages while Pennsylvania brings up the tail end of the top five with $439.3 million in wages.
However, for tax revenue, the first place goes to Pennsylvania with $1.43 billion for the entire year. Nevada finished in second place at $903.4 million and New York at third, which earned $877.7 million. Coming in at fourth was Indiana at $702.5 million with Louisiana at fifth with $587.5 million in tax revenue.
Altogether, all of America’s commercial casinos employed 339,770 Americans and non-Americans, paid a combined $13.44 billion in wages and generated$8.67 billion in tax revenue.
