Gambling keeps growing in the United States, but that does not tell the full story as to why some casinos still fail.
The U.S. commercial gaming industry reached a record high in 2025, generating $78.72 billion in gross gaming revenue (GGR), a 9.2% increase over the previous year, according to the American Gaming Association’s (AGA) Commercial Gaming Revenue Tracker.
Despite those increases, a number of casino operators have closed locations or even filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. That’s at least partly because increased competition has made the operating environment more challenging.
In the early 1980s, for example, my parents took free charter flights to Atlantic City from Boston, where they got a comped room, maybe a buffet voucher, and a little freeplay. Then, in 1986, Foxwoods opened in Connecticut, and you could gamble without a plane flight.
Now, the Boston area has multiple casinos, so it makes less sense to bother with going to Atlantic City.
As gamblers, we now have choices. I can drive down the road toward Miami and be in one of a handful of casinos in under an hour. That means the casino operators don’t have the same built-in clientele they did when only Atlantic City, Las Vegas, and Reno had legal gambling.
Competition isn’t necessarily what brought down casino operator Imperial Pacific International (IPI), but its bankruptcy illustrates the risks when a property can’t attract enough customers to support its costs.
Imperial Pacific International nears end of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Imperial Pacific International operated one of the farthest-flung U.S. casinos. The company ran the now-closed Imperial Pacific Palace, a casino resort in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Saipan is the largest island in the CNMI, an unincorporated U.S. territory.
“IPI, which never completed full construction of its Saipan casino resort Imperial Palace, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April 2024 owing $141.6 million to multiple creditors, including the Commonwealth Casino Commission (CCC), CNMI Treasury, main contractor MCC International, plus former employees and multiple contractors and suppliers,” according to Inside Asian Gaming.
That case has finally been resolved after a federal judge approved a structured dismissal of the Chapter 11 case, clearing the way for distributions to creditors.
“U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert J. Faris granted the joint motion filed by IPI and the Official Committee of General Unsecured Creditors, authorizing the debtor to distribute remaining estate funds and dismiss the case once all payments are completed. The order also rejects IPI’s casino license, terminates the retention of all professionals, and preserves all prior rulings — including the casino sale order — for purposes of finality,” according to Isla Public Media KPRG.
The ruling came with a number of conditions:
- Under the dismissal procedures, IPI must first pay outstanding quarterly U.S. trustee fees and administrative expenses, followed by the Internal Revenue Service, and then general unsecured creditors.
- The judge also approved a clause shielding the debtor, the committee, and their professionals from lawsuits over actions taken during the Chapter 11 process, excluding willful misconduct, gross negligence, fraud, or criminal acts.
“With the dismissal granted, the case now moves into its final administrative phase, marking the end of one of the largest insolvencies in CNMI history,” KPRG added.
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More casinos does not mean more revenue
While IPI was not operating in a traditional market for a casino, its success required attracting people to its property. That’s becoming harder as more casinos have been built around the country.
“A Study of the Systematic Risks of New Jersey’s Casinos,” a paper from Rutgers University by Will Irving, Michael L. Lahr, and Chen Zhang, showed the impact of adding casinos in Atlantic City as well as in surrounding markets.
“The addition of new casinos in Atlantic City will yield diminishing returns to gross gaming revenues within the city, particularly as new competitors come online in neighboring states. Gross gaming revenue of new casinos in Atlantic City would come largely at the expense of existing venues,” the authors wrote.
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Revenue also fell dramatically in other markets when new players opened casinos.
“Indiana casinos have also been impacted in recent years by new casinos opening in
the Cincinnati area…Since these openings, the three nearby casinos in southeast Indiana have seen their AGR levels drop from a combined $557 million in FY 2013 to their FY 2019 combined level of only $314 million — a decline of $243 million or nearly -44%,” according to a report issued by the State of Illinois.
IPI is not the only casino operator in Chapter 11
Maverick Gaming, under its corporate name, RunItOneTime LLC, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 14, 2025, according to court documents found on PacerMonitor.
“The decision to initiate this court-supervised process follows a strategic review of Maverick’s capital structure and operations,” Maverick shared in a press release.
Maverick’s filing came after a report from S&P Global Ratings that cast serious doubt on its finances.
“The ratings agency stated that the company’s capital structure was ‘unsustainable’ because high fixed charges, including interest, rent, capital expenditures, and lease costs, outpaced forecasted earnings.”
That was followed by an even stronger action by S&P.
In June 2025, S&P Global Ratings withdrew all ratings on Maverick Gaming, including its ‘CCC’ issuer credit rating, citing a lack of sufficient information to maintain coverage. At the time of withdrawal, the agency maintained a negative outlook on the company.
The action was later summarized by SCCG Management, a gaming industry advisory firm.
The filing followed an agreement between Maverick and its creditors.
Maverick, a majority of its secured lenders, and its majority shareholder entered into a transaction support agreement on June 25, “pursuant to which certain secured lenders will provide new money financing, and the company intends to pursue a restructuring or sale process under the supervision of the Bankruptcy Court,” the company shared.
Since the Chapter 11 filing and that agreement, the company closed its Silver Dollar Casino in Seattle.
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