The Sky Tower at Mohegan Sun, owned by the Mohegan Tribe, in Uncasville, Connecticut. Photo: JJBers / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.
Tribal gaming operations generated $46.2 billion in gross gaming revenue in fiscal year 2025, the National Indian Gaming Commission announced July 21, an increase of $2.3 billion, or 5.3%, over fiscal 2024.
The figure is based on independently audited financial statements from 545 gaming establishments operated by 246 tribes in 29 states. Seven of the commission’s eight regions reported growth.
Gross gaming revenue is the amount wagered minus winnings returned to players. It is not profit; tribes use the revenue to cover operating costs, debt and regulation before any money reaches tribal government budgets.
How the industry began
Tribal gaming grew out of the Supreme Court’s 1987 decision in California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, which held that states could not enforce their gambling regulations on tribal lands. Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act the following year, creating the commission and requiring tribal-state compacts for casino-style gaming.
Revenue that funds governments
Unlike commercial casinos, tribal gaming operations exist to fund tribal governments. Under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, net revenues must be used for tribal government operations or programs, the general welfare of the tribe and its members, economic development, charitable donations or funding local government agencies.
“Indian gaming is an important contributor to tribal economies that empowers sovereign tribal governments to invest in their communities and provide their citizens with essential services,” NIGC Vice Chair Billy Kirkland said in the announcement.
Associate Commissioner Sharon Avery credited “the continued commitment of tribal regulators and operators to responsible growth and community benefit.”
Uneven benefits, new threats
The national total masks wide variation. Historically, a relatively small number of large operations near major population centers account for a large share of revenue, while many tribal casinos in rural areas are modest enterprises that support local jobs more than large government budgets.
The industry’s growth also comes as tribes confront new competition. Prediction markets such as Kalshi now offer contracts on sporting events nationwide, and a federal appeals court ruled in April that state gambling law likely cannot reach them. Tribes argue that such markets threaten the regulatory framework and market exclusivity they negotiated under IGRA. A coalition of 145 tribes and tribal organizations has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the issue, noting that tribes spend more than $450 million a year on gaming regulation.
For many nations, gaming has been the foundation for diversification into other industries, from construction and hospitality to health care and federal contracting. Protecting that foundation, tribal leaders argue, is a matter of economic sovereignty.
Source: National Indian Gaming Commission.
.jpg){kind=link}