Growth split

iGaming vs. sports betting: the growth gap inside the record year

By iGaming USA editorial desk Published Updated

Wooden blocks forming a staircase with an upward arrow
Blocks rising in steps. iGaming is growing faster than sports betting — off a much smaller licensed map. Photo: Atlantic Ambience / Pexels

The short answer

Inside AGA's record $78.62 billion commercial gaming year, the composition mattered more than the total: iGaming revenue jumped 27.6% to $10.7 billion from just seven states, while sports betting — live in nearly 40 jurisdictions — grew at a fraction of that rate off a much larger base. Online casino is now the industry's fastest-growing vertical despite covering less than a fifth of the US map.

In this article

The 2025 totals made every headline — fifth consecutive record, $78.62 billion. The more instructive number was hiding in the segment table: the vertical growing fastest is the one available to the fewest Americans.

Illustrative example

The CY2025 growth split
SegmentCY2025 revenueGrowthAvailability
Total commercial gaming$78.62 billion+9.1% YoY38 states + DC
iGaming (online casino)$10.7 billion+27.6% YoY7 states
Sports betting~$14 billion (segment)high single digits≈39 jurisdictions + DC
Traditional slots/tablesremainder, modest growthlow single digitscasino markets nationwide
Segment figures per AGA State of the States 2026; sports betting figure is the segment share of the $78.62B total.

Why the growth rates diverge

  • Maturation: sports betting's big launches are behind it — most states that will legalize quickly already have, so growth now rides handle depth, not new-state openings.
  • iGaming is young: New Jersey's market is barely a decade old, Rhode Island launched in 2024, and even mature iGaming states are still compounding double-digit growth.
  • Unit economics: an online casino customer is worth several times a sportsbook customer on margin — the house edge is engineered rather than market-priced.
  • Suppressed supply: seven-state availability means pent-up demand concentrates in the licensed markets.

What the gap means

For the industry, the math argues itself: every new state that licenses online casino adds a high-margin revenue stream, which is why iGaming expansion is the industry's top legislative priority — and why tribal and brick-and-mortar resistance to it is correspondingly fierce. For readers of revenue reports, the divergence is a reminder to read segments, not totals: 'record gaming revenue' in 2025 is mostly a statement about online casino growth, not casino-floor traffic.

Underlying figures: the CY2025 commercial total in context, the seven-state online casino map and the 2026 sports betting map.

Sources