The National Indian Gaming Commission has reported a significant bounce following the end of restrictions surrounding the global pandemic. The NIGC has reported just shy of $41 billion Tribal Gaming revenue for FY2022, the largest ever on record for tribal gaming interests since records began.

In the history of NIGC reporting, gross gaming revenue has eclipsed the $40 billion mark for the first time. It is up from $39.0 billion recorded in FY21. This represented an approximate 5% increase year-on-year.

Revenue growth was reported in 7 of the 8 regions in FY21, with only Sacramento showing a decrease in GGR despite a growth in the number of tribal gaming operations. Under ‘traditional’ state allocation, Sacramento is comprised of California and Northern Nevada.

“This year’s historic revenue reflects the resiliency of many tribal gaming operations, and how tribal gaming continues to rebound and remain strong. Tribal governments and the operations they license continue to explore new and innovative ways to expand and deliver world-class experiences to cultivate sustainable economies. Across Indian country, tribes pursue economic sustainability through gaming by relying on the robust regulatory reputation for which Indian gaming is well known, and made better when supported by efficient and effective measures,” said NIGC Chair E. Sequoyah Simermeyer.

Combined with the reported commercial gaming revenue by the American Gaming Association, US commercial and tribal casino revenue topped $100 billion for the first time in history.

The more granular statistics provided by NIGC throw up some interesting talking points too. 55% of all submissions to the NIGC reported revenues of under $25 million, comprising a total of 5% GGR. 13% of all submissions reported fell between the $25 – $50 million mark, and they represented 6% of GGR.

11% of all submissions sat between $50 – $100 million, and these made up 10% of total GGR. The skew gets more severe as the reported revenue increases. 29% of total GGR is represented by the 13% in the $100m – $250 million. Most interesting to note is that a whopping 51% of GGR is made up of just 8 submissions, each reporting revenues of greater than $250 million.

The biggest region for growth this year was Phoenix, showing a 15.7% increase from approx. $3.22 billion in revenue to $3.73 billion. Both D.C. and Tulsa exhibited double digit growth of 10.8 and 10.6% respectively.

The report considers 519 audited financial statements from 244 Tribes set across 29 states. Each tribe must submit to NIGC financial statements covering the financial activities of each class II and class III gaming operation on the tribe’s Indian lands for each fiscal year.

There is no split between revenue generated from sports betting activity and so on. The numbers, however, are clear to see why commercial operators are keen to tap into TX online casinos, CA sport betting and the size of the Oklahoma casino market.