Number of commercial casinos in the U.S. pre–Hurricane Katrina: 445
Number of casinos post-Katrina: 429
Number of states that operate casinos: 11
Number of states that have some form of legalized gambling: 48
Amount commercial casinos generated in gross gaming revenue in 2004: $29 billion
Percentage increase since the year before: 7
Amount one slot machine can generate in a day: $300
Amount per year: more than $100,000
Number of jobs attributed to commercial casinos: 350,000
Amount in wages (including benefits and tips): $12 billion
Amount commercial casinos paid in direct gaming taxes to state and local governments
in 2004: $4.7 billion
Percentage increase since the year before: 9.6
Number of commercial casinos in Mississippi: 29
Number of those closed down due to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina: 12
Number of casinos, including riverboat casinos, in New Orleans: 4
Number of those closed down due to the devastation caused by Katrina: 4
Number of racetrack casinos in the U.S.: 23
Number of states operating racetrack casinos: 7
Amount generated in gross gaming revenues: $2.9 billion
Percentage increase since 2003: 30
Number of people employed by racetrack casinos: 14,225
Number of racetrack casinos opened in New York in 2004: 4
Number-one racetrack casino market in the U.S.: Charles Town, West Virginia
Gross revenue: $360.24 million
Number of riverboat or dockside casinos in the U.S.: 84
Number of states with riverboat or dockside casinos: 6
Annual take for the U.S. gambling industry in 1996: $47 billion
Annual take for the U.S. gambling industry in 2003: $72 billion
According to Harrah’s Entertainment/TNS NFO 2004 polling data, number of people
who visited a casino last year: 54.1 million
Average trips per gambler: 5.9
Percentage of American adults who play poker: 18
Number of card rooms in the U.S.: 446
Number of states that have card rooms: 5
Amount in gross revenues generated in 2004: $1 billion
Percentage increase since 2003: 20
Amount made in card-room revenue in California in 2004: $688 million
According to a 2004 American Gaming Association poll, percentage of Americans
whose acceptance of gambling is high: 80
Percentage of those who watch television shows that focus on Las Vegas or poker: 50-60
Number of states that operate Native American casinos: 28
Amount consumers spent on gaming in Las Vegas in 2004: $10.562 billion
Total gross gaming revenue for the Las Vegas Strip in 2004: $5.333 billion
Number-one casino market in the U.S.: Las Vegas
Second largest casino market in the U.S.: Atlantic City, New Jersey
Percentage more that casino players earn over the average American: 17
Average age of a U.S. casino customer: 46
Percentage of U.S. casino customers with some form of college/associate’s degree: 29
Percentage of U.S. casino customers who hold white-collar jobs: 45
Percentage of U.S. casino customers who are retired: 17
According to polling conducted by the Luntz Research Companies, percentage of
people who believe that taking reasonable risks — be it playing the stock market
or blackjack in a casino — plays an important role in American life: 83
Percentage of those who consider Las Vegas the most fun city in America: 17
Year New Jersey residents voted to legalize casino gambling in Atlantic City: 1976
Year casino gambling was legalized in Nevada: 1931
Year limited-stakes riverboat casinos opened in Iowa: 1991
Year the first online casino was launched: 1995
Number of online casino companies worldwide by 2000: 250-300
Number of Internet gambling sites worldwide offering various wagering options,
including sports betting, casino games, lotteries and bingo in 2000: 1,800
Internet-gambling revenue estimates for 2003: $5.691 billion
Estimated yearly revenue by 2009: $16.929 billion
According to Christiansen Capital Advisors (CCA), estimated number of people who
gambled on the Internet in 2003: 12 million
Number of those from the U.S.: Approximately 4.5 million
Number of years it takes for gamblers who play traditional games like cards to
develop a problem: 3.5
Number of years it takes for slot-machine players: 1
Number of Americans who meet “problem gambling” personality criteria: 10 million
Number of calls from gamblers to the California Council on Problem Gambling’s
crisis hot line in 2004: 3,400
Average total amount lost by callers: $32,000
Number of people in the U.S. who have been “pathological gamblers” at some time
in their lives, according to a 1999 report by the National Gambling Impact Study
Commission: 3 million
Percentage of gamblers addicted to gambling over an entire lifetime: 1.5
To drugs: 6.2
To alcohol: 13.8
Total social costs of problem and pathological gambling, according to a 1999 National
Opinion Research Center study: $5 to $6 billion
Out of 843 seniors polled, percentage of those who reported gambling at least
once in the past year, according to a study published in the January issue of
the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry: 70
Percentage of those seniors considered “at risk” gamblers — people who bet more
than they can afford to lose: 11
Number of people who visited Las Vegas in 1999: 33.8 million
In 2000: 35.8 million
Number of those who were convention delegates: More than 3.8 million
Number of hotel/motel rooms available in 2000: 124,270
Number of air carriers served by Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport — the
eighth busiest airport in the world: 51
Average number of flights a day: 980
In the first four months of 2001, number of passengers that passed through McCarran
International Airport: 18.5 million
Number of cabs that service metropolitan Las Vegas: 965
Approximate number of marriage licenses issued per day in Las Vegas: 230
Year the three-millionth marriage certificate was recorded in Clark County: 2000
Number of slot machines in Las Vegas for every eight residents: 1
Number of the top twenty hotels in the world that are located in Las Vegas: 17
Year the Las Vegas Townsite was established: 1905
Year the City of Las Vegas was incorporated: 1911
Year the first commercial airline flight (Western Airlines) arrived in Las Vegas:
1926
Year gangster Bugsy Siegel opened the Flamingo Hotel: 1946
Year the Nevada Legislature created the Gaming Control Board: 1955
Year the Nevada Gaming Commission was created by the Nevada Legislature: 1959
Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.