Biggest regulated iGaming markets: US overtakes UK in 2024

An analysis by gaming intelligence firm Vixio has concluded that the US will overtake the UK during 2024 as the world’s largest market for regulated online casino games.

In a just published report, they offer their estimate of the size of the regulated US iGaming market for 2024. They also present bull and bear case estimates for the how big it will be in 2027.

Figures for iGaming are the gross gaming revenue (GGR) for regulated online casino games. This excludes online lottery and online sports betting. It also excludes any guesses as to the size of GGR taken by offshore operators – a number that would be substantial.

One of the report’s key takeaways: GGR from regulated iGaming in the US will come in at $8.2 billion for calendar 2024, overtaking their estimate of the equivalent figure for the UK market ($7.5 billion).

Another takeaway: legislative uncertainty as to which (if any) states regulate in the future make the difference between the 2027 bull case ($15.1 billion) and bear case ($10.8 billion) very large.

US regulated iGaming – quick recap

If you’re talking regulated online casino gambling in the US, you’re only talking about 7 states.

• New Jersey
• Delaware
• Pennsylvania
• Michigan
• West Virginia
• Connecticut
• Rhode Island

Nevada allows online poker only (peer to peer). In a recent development, it also allows live dealer games to be streamed from Vegas casinos, but not for Nevada resident consumption.

So it’s really only a small cluster states in Northeast US where players can play online casino games.

These markets have grown fast in a short space of time. New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan in particular are now substantial markets each worth around $200 million per month in GGR.

Estimating market size by the end of 2024 is a simple exercise. You just extrapolate the casino revenue chart in currently regulated US states.

Estimating market size in 2025 and beyond becomes a guessing game as to which other states will join the party. And it seems there’s not a lot of certainty here.

To date in 2024, legislation to regulate iGaming has been considered but not passed in 6 states: New York, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland and Wyoming. Other states where the issue is thought to be on lawmakers radar from next year are Colorado, Louisiana, NewHampshire, Ohio and Virginia.

Of course not all states are equal so the who is just as much a factor as the how many. As an example New York would immediately add over $2 billion to annual GGR. Illinois almost $1 billion. A much bigger impact than when Rhode Island joined in 2024!

Vixio guess it’ll be around one new state per year. A number broadly in line with the recent past. They don’t go out on a limb to say who they think it will be in 2025.

Statistics from the UK

The report estimates the UK’s iGaming market to be worth $7.5 billion in calendar 2024.

Not to call this into question, but the most recent industry stats from the UK Gaming Commission were published Feb 2024. They cover the year to March 2023. GGR (they call it GGY by the way) from online casino and bingo games came in at £4.2 billion ($5.4 billion).

$7.5 billion for the year to December 2024 implies a 20% annual growth rate from then. Very healthy for a mature market.

The US may well have overtaken the UK earlier in 2024.