These Three States Bring in the Most Gaming Revenue

Casinos used to be somewhat rare in the United States. Laws prohibiting gambling go back to the Puritan communities of Massachusetts, which banned the practice in 1638, almost a century-and-a-half before the country was founded. Commercial casinos started to grow in Las Vegas and other parts of Nevada after World War II. New Jersey legalized gambling in the late 1970s and has supported Atlantic City’s casino industry ever since. Some Native American tribes began building casinos on sovereign land in the 1970s and ’80s.

Today casinos are legal in all but eight states. They are attractive to state and local officials because they generate lots of tax revenue. In 2025, states and cities earned nearly $16 billion in tax revenue from all types of gambling, including the rapidly growing sports-betting industry, according to the American Gaming Association. Casinos themselves still stir up mixed feelings. North Carolina’s former senate president, Phil Berger, lost his re-election bid this year in part because of his support for a casino project in his home district. But they’ve become go-to economic development opportunities for many stressed communities.

In 2025, the commercial gaming industry brought in more than $78 billion, led by three states, according to the American Gaming Association.

1. Nevada: $15,789,300,000, up 1.2 percent from 2024
2. Pennsylvania: $7,712,660,000, up 12.3 percent from 2024
3. New Jersey: $6,982,550,000, up 10.1 percent from 2024