American and Canadian Slots Sales on the Rise

USA and Canada slot machines market a gold mine in 2018.

American and Canadian Slots Sales on the Rise The global gambling industry has had its fair share of ups and downs. Whether by natural disaster or tumbling economic design, the pitfalls can be devastating for casinos and their game suppliers. Conversely, when the waves are cresting, the celebrations abound, worthy of uncorking the finest Boërl & Kroff Brut.

That’s where the slot machine manufactures that supply the North American market are right about now. According to the latest research report by the experts at Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, American and Canadian slots sales are up. They attribute the launch of several new and renovated casinos across the region has a lot to do with it.

USA & Canada Slot Machines a Gold Mine in Q2-2018

According to the report, the second quarter of 2018 has been the most lucrative for slots manufacturers servicing in the North American casino sector. Sales are up 15.7% across the USA and Canada combined.

North American Gambling – USA and Canada Slot Machines a Gold Mine Eilers & Krejcik point to the expansion of new casinos across the continent as the most pertinent source of increasing distribution. Just a few short years ago, an economic recession forced several casinos to close their doors, especially in New Jersey. In 2014 alone, the number of Atlantic City casinos dropped from 12 to 7, and continued to decline over the next two years.

Now, as the economy climbs out of recession, there’s been a resurgence in land-based casinos. Two new resorts opened in Atlantic City in June 2018; Ocean Resort Casino and Hard Rock Atlantic City. MGM Resorts opened the doors to it latest integrated resort property, MGM Springfield in Massachusetts, in August 2018.

North of the 49^th parallel, more new casinos are opening their doors and widening their floors. The two largest private gaming companies in Canada, Gateway Casinos & Entertainment and Great Canadian Gaming, have procured one contract after another to build new casinos, or expand the size of existing ones, from Vancouver, British Columbia to Toronto, Ontario.

Gateway’s renovated and rebranded Starlight Casino at the West Edmonton Mall (Edmonton, Alberta) opened in September, followed by GCG’s launch of Shorelines Casino in Peterborough, Ontario in October. Those properties alone added about 1,000 new slots games to the gaming equipment invoices.

More Room for USA & Canadian Slots

Last month, everyone who is anyone in the gambling industry was in Las Vegas for the annual Global Gaming Expo (G2E). Todd Eilers and Adam Krejcik were, of course, among them. The two made some bold predictions at G2E 2018, including the prediction that there’s vast room for continued growth in the USA and Canada slot machines market.

“There are 106,000 slots currently installed in 10 legal route markets in North America,” Eilers told the crowd of attendees. “We believe there is untapped potential for an additional 200,000 to 300,000 incremental games.”

He also notes that of the total $6.9 billion in global gaming equipment sales last year, an estimated 81% ($5.59bn) was linked directly to slot machine installments. Eilers estimates the overall figure is on pace to reach $7.1 billion by the end of 2018.