In the world of gambling, one axiom holds true — In the end, the casino always wins. But a new report from the American Gaming Association says that, due to the current not-so-great status of the economy, the casino isn’t winning as much as it was before.

According to the report, there was a 5.5% ($1.8 billion) overall drop in revenue from casino gambling in 2009, and of the 12 states with casino gambling, 8 reported drops in revenue.

Additionally, there were around 29,000 less people employed at casinos in 2009 than there had been in 2008.

Says Frank Fahrenkopf of the AGA:

There’s no way to sugarcoat it… The past year was tough.

People had less money to spend on our products… Until people go back to work, businesses that depend on discretionary income are going to continue to struggle.

The four states that saw increased casino gambling revenue are Colorado, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Missouri. Two new casinos opened in PA, while two new racetrack casinos made their debut in Indiana. Colorado raised betting limits and allowed for longer operating hours. Likewise, Missouri did away with limits on how much a gambler could lose at its casinos.

While casino gambling was noticeably down in most places, folks were still queuing up for lottery tickets, with revenues only dropping by less than 1% from the previous year.

Casino gamblers tightened purse strings in recession [USA Today]

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