Digital Wager Wire highlights the most important events impacting the domestic and international sports betting and gaming industry each week throughout the year.
Gaming Future Looks Bright in 2025
November proved to be an impressive month for sportsbooks across the nation, a reflection of a robust 2024 in terms of online and retail gaming. Although December is not quite finished, industry insiders are pointing to more gaming success in 2025.
A Growing Industry
AGA President and CEO Bill Miller pointed to the expansion of the industry and said in an emailed statement, “While this growth has been driven primarily by the continued expansion of online gaming and sports betting, our traditional brick-and-mortar operations have shown strong resilience in the face of macroeconomic headwinds.
“As we approach year-end, the industry remains well on track to surpass last year’s record $67 billion in annual commercial gaming revenue. We can point with pride to growth across every gaming vertical.”
Broad Landscape
The gaming verticals run the gamut from retail and mobile sports betting to iGaming to land-based casinos, poker, horse racing, and much more. The entire gaming landscape is expected to be bountiful yet again due to markets expanding and more states expected to pass mobile and online casino legislation.
As for land-based casinos, the average customer age has plummeted from 50 to 42, and it has remained resilient despite the infusion of online casino gambling in seven states, including Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and West Virginia.
“In an era of increased ideological polarization, it’s particularly gratifying to see how gaming has transcended political divides,” Miller said. “Our recent research found seven in 10 Harris voters and seven in 10 Trump voters support gaming. They see the positive impact we have on communities: creating jobs, driving tourism, and generating tax revenue. This bipartisan embrace will be crucial as we work with a new Trump administration, new Congress, and new state legislators in the coming year.”
Sphere Smashes Box Office Records
In a city where glitz, glamour, and jaw-dropping structures dot the landscape, Sphere towers above the rest as Las Vegas’ most recent modern-day marvel. Although it is rather simple in shape, the technological wizardry throughout the interior and exterior allows Sin City’s most popular entertainment venue to draw customers from around the globe. The giant orb took five years and $2.3 billion to build, and it opened in October 2023.
Breaking Records in 2024
However, all that effort has paid off handsomely, as it was recently reported that Sphere has broken a 50-year Billboard record with a staggering $420.5 million in gate receipts and 663,000 tickets sold in 2024. That does not even include the $22 million for the live gate at UFC 306 in September.
The highly acclaimed concert film, “U2: UV Achtung Baby,” generated $244.5 million in gross sales alone.
Sphere Executive Chairman and CEO James Dolan described the viewing experience of the U2 film at Sphere, saying, “You feel like you’re at the concert. So, you know, we have some great bands that are coming in over the next year. And so, I think we will continue to capture their concerts using our Big Sky technology. How we then bring it to the public and market it, I think we’re still trying to figure out what’s the best way.”
