Abstract
America's casino industry expanded rapidly in the 1990s, spreading from Nevada and Atlantic City to mining towns, riverboats, race tracks and tribal lands, and moving from isolated resort settings to urban and suburban venues. This article examines economic characteristics of the casino industry, including the evolution of major casino markets, pricing of gaming products, market structures, regulatory constraints, and social and economic impacts attributable to casinos. When competitive, casinos show strong economies of scale and scope, but many new jurisdictions limit the number or size of operations, thus creating substantial economic rents. Allocation of these rents are fundamentally politically determined.