Las Vegas Casinos Recover, Albeit Slowly

US casinos continue to recover from the global recession that has hurt the industry badly in the last couple of years, although they still lag behind their competitors in Asia, according to latest reports.

Online gambling is illegal in the United States, though some online casinos accept US players.

Gambling revenue in commercial US casinos rose 1.3 percent in the third quarter to just over $8 billion, American Gaming Association chief executive Frank Fahrenkopf said. That figure is around $100 million higher than the same period last year, although it is still cause for some pessimism.

As Fahrenkopf explained, the recession has hit harder than expected and the recovery has been slower than most predictions.

"Consumer discretionary spending has been significantly depressed throughout most of the year, which means that the gaming industry, and others like it, have continued to struggle," he said.

Notably, the news stateside comes in stark contrast to the news from Asia, where Macau's casino revenue rose 50% in October 2010 to a new record figure of $2.4 billion for the month.

Fahrenkopf speculated that Singapore might soon also pass Las Vegas in total revenues despite currently having only two casinos, both of which opened this year. Follow the link for further reading about Singaporean online gambling.

Although the recovery is taking longer than expected in Vegas, many analysts believe the worst has already been faced.

Stocks in the biggest Vegas operators such as MGM Resorts International (MGM), Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS) and Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) have been moving higher recently, although they are still well off the big gains made during the last boom period of 2007.