Chicago Sun-Times

U.S. casinos match best quarter ever

- BY WAYNE PARRY

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — America’s commercial casinos matched their best quarter ever in the first three months of this year, as customers continued returning amid the COVID-19 pandemic and internet and sports betting money helped boost revenue numbers.

Figures released Tuesday by the American Gaming Associatio­n, the casino industry’s national trade group, show the nation’s commercial casinos took in over $11.1 billion in the first quarter of this year.

That matched the industry’s best quarter in history, the third quarter of 2019. The figures do not include tribal casinos.

And March was a particular­ly good month: 12 states reported their highesteve­r levels of monthly gambling revenue.

The numbers were even more heartening to industry executives because they came while most casinos were still operating under capacity restrictio­ns designed to slow the spread of the coronaviru­s.

“Today’s report shows gaming’s comeback is ahead of schedule,” said Bill Miller, the associatio­n’s president and CEO.

 ?? WAYNE PARRY/AP FILE ??
WAYNE PARRY/AP FILE

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