The AGA’s Gaming CEO Outlook survey findings demonstrate a positive sentiment for future economic activity within the sector.
The American Gaming Association (AGA) recently published its Gaming CEO Outlook survey, which demonstrated an air of positivity amongst industry leaders regarding their business situation. Moreover, several CEOs within the gaming sector expressed confidence about the business climate for the future despite ongoing concerns facing the global economy. The AGA did, however, concede that following a period of exceptional growth, there is a chance that economic activity in this sector could reduce slightly over the next six months. As for gaming providers, expected player activity is something that still needs to be evaluated. There’s quite a bit of uncertainty where predictions are equally divided between growth and reduction. In any case, many top no deposit bonus guides, such as NoDepositKings will be sure to stay ahead of the game by promoting operators that will offer new and existing customers a premium gaming experience. Let’s delve a little deeper into the minutiae of the Gaming Industry Outlook to unpack the realities of what the future holds for the sector as a whole.
Key Findings of the Gaming CEO Outlook
The findings of the Gaming CEO Outlook carried out alongside Fitch Ratings were generally very positive for the gaming industry. For starters, the majority of CEOs who took part in the survey expressed that they thought the current business situation for their company was good (68%) or satisfactory (38%). Moreover, 92% of these CEOs indicated that they felt these conditions would continue or improve further in the next three to six months. Bill Miller, the President and CEO of the AGA, who oversaw the publication of this report, said that the industry was ‘cautiously optimistic about the future. With the gaming industry having already weathered the challenges of a volatile economic climate, Miller put industry resilience down to the strength of consumer demand.
Acknowledging The Challenges Facing The Gaming Industry
Although the findings from the Gaming Industry Outlook were overwhelmingly positive, the AGA did highlight that despite strong annual revenue, there were macroeconomic factors that dampened future prospects for the gaming industry. 65% of the gaming CEOs cited supply chain issues as a limiting factor in the operations, and 62% acknowledged the role played by inflation and interest rate concerns in terms of slowing their prospects for the future. Other macroeconomic factors limiting business growth that was acknowledged by the survey participants included economic uncertainty (50%) and labor shortages (50%).
The Survey Indices
To fully understand the findings from the AGA’s Gaming Industry Outlook, its essential to understand the two separate indices included, namely the Current Conditions Index and the Future Conditions Index.
The Current Conditions Index
This measures US casino gaming industry activity during the most recent quarter. It is based on three key components: gaming revenue, employment, and wages and salaries. It ultimately provides an indication of the composite growth within these three areas on a yearly basis. Index values above 100 indicate activity expanded during the quarter, while index values below 100 indicate a contraction. The Current Conditions Index for the third quarter of 2022 was 99.5, which shows that gaming-related economic activity remained relatively stable when compared to the previous quarter. Moreover, this figure indicates that gaming-related economic activity has grown at a yearly pace of approximately 4.9% over the last three quarters, which demonstrated real underlying growth despite the effects of inflation.
The Future Conditions Index
As the name suggests, this index provides a forecast for the future. With the current figure standing at 95.3, it is an indication that real gaming-related economic activity is forecast to decrease slightly over the course of the next six months at a yearly rate of 4.7%. Despite the positive sentiments expressed by the AGA’s Gaming Executive Panel, The Future Conditions Index is dampened by the current Oxford Economic outlook, which predicts that there will be a mild recession in the first six months of 2023.
Concluding Remarks
In short, the AGA’s forecast for the gaming industry is pretty promising. While it is evident that the gaming industry has been incredibly resilient in the face of various economic challenges which have served to cripple other industry sectors, it is clear that leaders within the sector are aware of the obstacles their companies will need to face in the coming months. The situation for gaming operators with regard to future customer activity is somewhat uncertain, with expectations being split between expansion and contraction. Overall, it seems that the strong growth that the gaming industry has expected over the past two years has positioned the sector well so it can handle the uncertainty the future holds.