Recession Effects on Gambling and Casinos

Published on Mar 27th, 2009 - 3:10pm PST


The gambling industry has always been looked upon as recession proof. There once was a time when it was thought that there will always be people who will have money to gamble regardless of the economic state of the country. In fact, not so long ago, there used to be a spike in gambling due to a recession because of the increased desperation to make money. That was the case years ago, however, the gambling industry has grown in leaps and bounds since then. There are much more opportunities these days to gamble with casinos popping up more frequently, the immergence of dog tracks and horse tracks, while there are scores of different lotteries that offer scratch off tickets to entice those that are in need of a little financial boost by the way of luck. Legal Gambling has become readily available to the average American, a sudden change from when this type of gambling was performed only by hardcore gamblers, this only points to the fact that the gambling industry has fallen victim to the countries recession, an industry that was once thought of being immune to economic difficulties.

It seems as though gambling has become a form of entertainment for Americans, such as shopping and going out to dinner. More and more people are using money to satisfy these entertainment needs, by going to the casino for the weekend or for a day trip. With the recession, casinos are seeing a drop in revenue. For example, Atlantic City reported a 10% drop in their revenue as of this month compared to last year. Other major casinos such as Las Vegas Resorts are also reporting shorter stays and people aren't spending money on entertainment and gambling.

It is difficult to say that the present economy is the main reason for the recent drop in revenue from gambling casinos, however it seems as though everyday there are major companies that are having massive layoffs, and this is also starting to spill over to the gambling industry with the pending layoffs of 400 employees at the MGM Mirage.

This recent trend shows that the gambling industry is not immune from economic struggle during a recession.