A new report takes a look at the future of the US gambling industry and identifies seven verticals with a lot of upside.

Not shockingly, many of these forms of gaming are done primarily online and have not been fully exploited in the US yet.

The report from PlayUSA takes a detailed look at each vertical and reveals where various stakeholders — from governments to the casino industry — stand on the issues.

The gambling issues to watch in coming years

Here are the seven areas to watch for growth or change in the American market, per the report:

• Online gambling
• Online lottery
• Daily fantasy sports
• Social casino
• Online skill gambling
• Online horse betting
• Sports betting

Not all of these are equal, obviously. Online gambling, online lottery and sports betting in particular offer far higher potential ceilings.

The report notes that you can already do at least one of the above activities in 44 states already. There are 26 states that are actively looking at legalizing and regulating at least one of the activities above. You can track much of that legislation here and here.

Making progress on new forms of gambling

Change is never easy. And that’s especially true of gambling. Nevada casinos, along with horse racing and lotteries, were once the only ways to really gamble legally in the US. But that eventually changed across the US, as tribal and commercial casinos have cropped up in recent decades, alongside some forms of online gaming.

So change is possible. But that still doesn’t mean it will be easy for any of the forms of gaming listed above to gain more traction.

From the report:

Gambling is a highly dynamic issue in the United States, a universe populated by a long list of stakeholders and a dense web of agendas and alliances. … Achieving progress on any – let alone all – is a tall task given the diverse array of opinions from operators, lawmakers, and other economic interests.

Daily fantasy sports is by far the vertical that has had the most success in gaining legal clarity — 11 states have legalized it in the past five years. However, the industry already existed without that legal clarity in the vast majority of states.

The biggest opportunities lie in iGaming, sports betting

If online gambling and sports betting make headway, they can both be gamechangers for the gaming industry.

We know from New Jersey that online gambling has the potential to be an economic powerhouse, as it has generated nearly $100 million in tax revenue since launch. Pennsylvania is the state closest to legalizing iGaming.

Sports betting offers a similar possible sea change. From the report:

Sports betting represents one of the last great frontiers of regulated gambling in the United States. Effectively, a national expansion of regulated sports betting would immediately reshape the landscape for commercial gambling.

For more information on each of the emerging segments of the gaming industry, their current status and revenue potential as well as their legislative outlooks, download the full report at PlayUSA.

Image credit: Cheryl Ann Quigley / Shutterstock.com

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