Iowa’s casino and sports betting drops – The Gazette

Bettors wager on sporting events Aug. 15, 2019, inside the sportsbook at Ameristar Casino Hotel in Council Bluffs. Gamblers no longer are required to go in-person to an Iowa casino to place sports bets, and can instead set up online accounts with approved sportsbooks. (Joe Shearer, Council Bluffs Nonpareil)

DES MOINES Gamblers bet more than $4 billion at Iowa-licensed casinos and sportsbooks in fiscal 2023, and even that average of nearly $11 million a day in wagers represented a decline for both in-person casino and online sports betting.

Iowas sports betting revenue dropped in the fiscal year that ended in June for the first time since the Iowa Legislature legalized it in 2019.

And it was a significant drop: There was $2.247 billion in sports bets made in the 2023 state budget year, down from $2.455 billion in the same period the previous year an 8.5 percent decline, according to state figures.

And for just the second time in the past decade but excluding the worst pandemic year casino gambling revenue in Iowa also dropped from the previous year.

According to figures from the Iowa Racing and Gaming Association, which oversees the gambling industry in the state, gambling revenue at the 19 state-licensed casinos was more than $1.754 billion in fiscal 2023. Thats down slightly 0.7 percent from the $1.766 billion recorded in the previous budget year.

The Council Bluffs market, which includes three casinos, combined accounted for a year-over-year decline roughly equivalent to the statewide difference.

We saw temporary facilities open in Nebraska, and the facility in Lincoln likely has had an impact on the Council Bluffs market, said Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission Administrator Brian Ohorilko.

Admissions to Iowas casinos already had been declining. There were 17.1 million admissions to the licensed casinos in 2022, down from 17.8 million in 2021, according to a state report. That continued a trend of declining attendance that started before the pandemic struck in 2020.

Beginning in 2013, casino gambling revenues in Iowa have increased annually with only two other exceptions: in 2019, when it dropped slightly just 0.5 percent from $1.463 billion to $1.457 billion, and in 2020, when the industry took a huge hit from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wes Ehrecke, president and chief executive officer of the Iowa Gaming Association, which represents the 19 licensed casinos, said the mild dip in fiscal 2023 revenue may be due in part to a right-sizing of the industry after two consecutive years of spikes after the worst of the pandemic.

Coming out of the worst of the pandemic, the $1.457 billion recorded in fiscal 2019 surged to $1.575 billion in fiscal 2021 and $1.766 billion in fiscal 2022.

When we came out of COVID, we had kind of a bump at that time. There was a lot of pent-up demand, people getting back and stuff, Ehrecke said. I think that (revenue drop in the most recent year) was really more about coming off COVID, having the bump, the pent-up demand, and then it came back maybe to more of a normal (year).

Nationally, casino gambling revenues increased in calendar years 2021 and 2022, and are on pace to increase again in 2023, according to data collected by the American Gaming Association.

Before the pandemic-related revenue swings, gambling revenue in Iowa was on a pretty steady track. From the 2014 to 2019 budget years, revenue increased 2 percent, 1.5 percent, 1.1 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively, before dipping 0.5 percent.

Year in, year out over the last several years, we dont change a lot, Ehrecke said. It doesnt fluctuate a lot. Weve got a very stable industry here.

Ehrecke said other economic pressures on Iowans may also have factored into the dip in revenue.

The discretionary dollars earmarked for entertainment maybe were not as much because of higher gas prices, and theres just things that are kind of going on during that time, he said.

Ehrecke said Iowas casinos face other potential headwinds in the coming years, including increased competition on Iowas borders including both from Nebraska and Illinois.

A group has been attempting for years to get a license for a $250 million casino in Cedar Rapids. With those casino backers on the cusp of trying for the third time to get a license, Iowa lawmakers in the final days of their 2022 session blocked the attempt by passing a two-year moratorium on any new casino licenses.

The moratorium expires in June, and the backers have said theyll try again.

Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com

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Iowa's casino and sports betting drops - The Gazette