Record Tribal Casino Revenues for Fiscal Year 2022 Announced By Indian Gaming Commission

Article ByDavid Weir

July 20, 2023

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Posted in: US Casino News, US Gambling News

The National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) has announced that tribal casinos across the United States generated a record-breaking gross gaming revenue (GGR) of $40.9 billion in the fiscal year 2022.

This figure represents a 4.9% increase from the previous fiscal year, marking the highest revenue in the history of tribal gaming.

In its 2022 fiscal year report, released this week, the tribal gaming regulator looked at 519 gaming operations across 29 states.

It found the most popular and profitable tribal casinos in the U.S. are in California, such as Thunder Valley Casino Resort near Sacramento (pictured). The state’s 70 tribal casinos saw revenues exceed $11.8 billion for the year.

The D.C area and St. Paul, Minnesota, where the small but famously rich Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community operate several casinos, were also high up on the list of profitable regions for tribal casinos. Operations in those areas made $9 billion and $5 billion in revenues, respectively.

“This year’s historic revenue reflects the resiliency of many tribal gaming operations, and how tribal gaming continues to rebound and remain strong,” said NIGC Chair E. Sequoyah Simermeyer.

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Regional Performance

The revenue figures were calculated from the independently audited financial statements of 519 gaming operations owned by 244 federally recognized tribes.

These operations are located on Indian land in 29 states.

Seven of the NIGC’s eight regions showed an increase over the previous fiscal year, with the Phoenix region, which encompasses Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado, reporting a 15.7% year-on-year increase in GGR to $3.7 billion.

Despite the overall growth, the revenue distribution among tribal casinos was not uniform.

NIGC Vice Chair Jeannie Hovland reported that 55% of the tribal casinos won less than $25 million, while only 8% of the tribal casinos generated gross gaming revenue (GGR) upwards of $250 million. This disparity underscores the varying scales and capacities of tribal gaming operations across the country.

Overall, officials from the NIGC celebrated the promising outlook.

“We have cause to celebrate the opportunity successful Indian gaming operations affords tribes to invest in the future and improve the quality of life for individual Native people, their families, and their communities,” said Hovland.

Expanding and Delivering

The record-breaking revenue for tribal casinos comes in conjunction with U.S. commercial casinos also reporting record play last year.

Combined commercial and tribal casino revenue was in excess of $100 billion for FY 2022-23, setting a new high watermark for the industry.

Looking ahead, the tribal gaming industry is poised for continued growth. Tribal operators across the U.S. are working their way into newly legal sports betting markets, such as in Nebraska this month.

In other states, several high-profile legal battles have gone in favor of tribal gambling in recent months.

That includes the famous Seminole Tribe of Florida, owners of Hard Rock Entertainment and its gambling spin-offs, who are seeking approval to launch online sportsbooks in the Sunshine State, and the Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma, who recently won a 30-year legal battle over a planned casino in Wichita, Kansas.

“Tribes continue to explore new and innovative ways to expand and deliver world-class in-house and virtual experiences, all under the excellent reputation for integrity and compliance for which Indian gaming is well known,” said the opening statement to the NIGC report.