2021 is now the highest-winning year ever for US casinos

(AP) — America’s casinos have won more money this year than ever before, according to figures released Thursday from a national gambling trade association.

The American Gaming Association said U.S. casinos have already broken the record for most money won in a single year at $44.15 billion.

Those figures are based on reports through October, as well as on a handful of states that have released results from November.

The total surpassed the record set in all of 2019, which was $43.65 billion.

And with many more states still to report November revenue figures, as well as all the December reports, that number will climb even higher. The figures do not include tribal casinos.

October highlights nationwide include in-person gambling continuing to drive the industry’s recovery, with brick-and-mortar activity generating $3.97 billion, topping pre-pandemic totals by 16% from October 2019.

Americans wagered a record $7.05 billion on sports in 25 jurisdictions in October, bringing the year-to-date total amount bet to $42.19 billion. That is nearly double the amount wagered in all of 2020 when just 17 markets were operating.