It’s safe to say by now that the U.S. commercial and tribal gaming industries are in the midst of a historic run of performance.
According to the American Gaming Association, commercial gross gaming revenue set its fourth consecutive annual record at $72 billion in 2024, with 28 states setting new all-time marks last year.
The latest available data from the National Indian Gaming Commission says the tribal sector notched GGR of $41.9 billion in fiscal year 2023, also continuing a string of records post-2020.
Yet despite this high-speed pace for operators, the last half-decade has been incredibly challenging for builders and developers. Historic disruptions from the Covid pandemic at the start of the decade kicked off multiple years of lingering global supply chain disruptions, rising costs and economic uncertainty.
Just when it seemed things were back on a solid footing for 2025 and beyond, an on-again, off-again, escalating-deescalating trade war kicked off, sparked by the April 2 “Liberation Day” announcements from President Donald Trump. Trump slapped steep tariffs on dozens of U.S. trade partners, especially China. In the weeks following, various extensions and reprieves resulted in a roller-coaster ride for financial markets.
Many Covid-era economic symptoms, including rising material costs and overall recession fears, are seeping back into industry discourse. Despite this, properties must continue to reinvent themselves, keeping those revenue streaks alive in the face of the unknown.
Nathan Peak, President, HBG Design
Uncertain economic times can make renovations and expansions all the more stressful. Operators face numerous questions about supplies, timelines, processes and return on investment. Industry designers and architects are looking for ways to get ahead of the curve and into the black.
Wants vs. Needs
The simplest response to an increasingly shaky business outlook is to pare down projects and focus on “must-haves” instead of “nice-to-haves.” In the current landscape, operators tend to focus on the gaming floor first.
“We’re seeing a strong push toward casino refreshes and targeted expansion projects that prioritize flexibility and adaptability,” says Nathan Peak, president of HBG Design. “We’re also working with several operators who are expanding in smaller, bite-sized phases—often renovating gaming floors or converting underperforming spaces based on new trends that may attract different clientele and increase revenue.”
Brett Ewing, Principal, Cunningham Group Architecture
Identifying these underperforming sections and remodeling them is a small-scale but effective way to maximize limited resources. Brett Ewing, principal at Cuningham Group Architecture, says his firm is “seeing clients fine-tuning their gaming floors,” deferring larger transformations.
“This strategy ranges from incrementally increasing the number of available games to targeted remodels of certain parts of the gaming floor, such as a refresh to a high-limit area,” Ewing says.
Conversely, another perspective is to identify the areas that are performing well and invest more in those spaces. As Ewing notes, high-limit areas could be of the utmost importance, especially if economic circumstances begin to weigh on lower-tier spending. Another idea is to create themed spaces in conjunction with new games.
“Gaming operators also favor alterations to specific areas of the existing gaming floor that feature new slot machines or table games that are demonstrating popularity among players,” comments John Ruiz, principal at R2Architects. “The design team must provide creative design solutions to accommodate the changes in the least disruptive and most efficient manner, with the emphasis on creating ‘wow’ moments in the space.”
As Ruiz explains, these moments “may be the fitting-out of a new portal entryway featuring cool signage into a gaming zone where the machines and/or the table games are fitted, changing the carpet for an updated look, etc.” Such micro-projects are well-suited for quick turnarounds and instant returns.
In addition to gaming floors, small updates to food-and-beverage outlets are increasingly attractive to operators with limited resources and short timelines.
“Clients are looking at expansions that maximize use flexibility and minimize staffing requirements,” says David Nejelski, vice president and creative director of TBE Architects. “If a fast-casual F&B venue, for instance, can offer a high-quality product within a limited menu and not require a major kitchen expansion, it may generate a better return than a dedicated three-meal or fine-dining approach.”
David Nejelski, Vice President and Creative Director, TBE Architects
Nejelski points to a recent F&B project at the J Resort in Reno, Nevada, which “opted to pursue a smaller sports lounge concept with a limited, quality menu instead of a much more elaborate high-end gaming/specialty cuisine concept to achieve the dining/entertainment offering they want.”
Strong Foundations, Adept Flexibility
Some operators opt to take risks, pushing forward with larger projects in uncertain times. At such times, consensus among stakeholders and willingness to adapt during construction become even more vital.
“With strong teamwork you can overcome almost all economic changes over the course of a project,” Ewing suggests. “However, it’s critical to be clear about design intent and quality, avoiding ‘closed specifications’ that are hard to substitute. This allows for flexibility during construction when required.”
He notes that for casinos, especially, all projects must be done in a way that allows as much of the property as possible to stay open. This challenge is “like open-heart surgery,” he says. “The approach needs to be meticulously coordinated and carried out” in order to keep everything alive, especially if costs rise or business conditions decline.
Given how the last five years have played out, it’s reasonable to pencil in at least some level of change for nearly every project at this point. As HBG’s Peak notes, most early-stage projects “are being structured with healthy contingencies to account for inflation and supply volatility stemming from tariffs.” The key is to keep “the core elements that matter most to the guest experience” at the forefront.
“We’ve had to adapt frequently—especially in today’s market,” he says. “For instance, our FF&E (furniture, fixtures and equipment) team recently pivoted away from sourcing products in certain countries due to tariff changes. Because of strong vendor relationships, we were able to recommend alternative sourcing strategies that maintained product quality while saving costs. Flexibility is built into our process, but it hinges on having a strong communication chain among the owner, architect and contractor.”
The option to postpone projects or cancel them altogether is ever-present. But good things don’t always come to those who wait, says TBE’s Nejelski, and times of volatility may also present opportunities. If you have the funds and labor is getting scarce, it may make sense to take a bit of a risk before things potentially get worse.
“In a contracting market, labor may become more competitive,” he explains. “Finance expenses are also a primary consideration. It may make sense to phase a project if reduced scope can be paid for without the need to acquire outside capital.”
Pushing forward with a project despite uncertainty can pay off. For Ewing and Cuningham, Tachi Palace in Lemoore, California is one property that dared to move forward during the pandemic and has been reaping the rewards since. The casino opened multiple renovation projects in 2022 and 2023.
“The owner decided to move forward at that time so the expansion and renovation would be ready once activity and visitor levels returned to normal,” Ewing says. “They opened ahead of the curve and the returns on the investment were strong and ahead of some of their competitors.”
Material Lessons
The threat of a recession may not paint the rosiest of pictures. If nothing else, operators will remember lessons learned from the Covid era.
“One of the biggest lessons from the pandemic is the importance of diversified sourcing,” says Peak. “Our interior design team and vendor partners have adapted by building supply networks across multiple countries. That agility has become critical to delivering successful projects without delay. It’s no longer viable to have all your eggs in one basket. To protect project timelines and client trust, we’ve embraced a more global, flexible procurement strategy that aligns with today’s unpredictable economic landscape.”
With regard to tariffs specifically, sourcing domestically rather than globally is also increasingly desirable. A number of countries facing the steepest rates, especially China, are huge exporters to the U.S. Nejelski says that “renewed focus on domestic sources is also becoming more of a priority as a hedge against potential volatility in international supply chains.”
There are a whole host of reasons why materials can be delayed. These range from global conflicts to port delays, labor disputes and pandemics.
John Ruiz, Principal, R2Architects
“Gaming operators have a preference going back over five years for American-made products and materials, when possible,” says R2’s Ruiz. “They tell us they want a truck to be able to pick it up.”
Of course, sometimes there isn’t anything to do but order the most important but scarce materials as quickly as possible to get them on the books. In years past, Ewing notes, “those items included electrical switchgear and mechanical units,” but now there are similar issues with steel and lighting. There’s no getting around some wait times that still can exceed a year or longer for certain fixtures, sources say.
In addition to sourcing and supply chains, some other tricks were learned during Covid. For example, Ruiz says that for F&B projects specifically, a lot of kitchens were opting to build bigger refrigerated spaces because of impacts to food vendors. In the past, managers had a tough time keeping food fresh when supply was not on its usual schedule. That trend could return.
“Kitchen managers were buying just about any food product they could get their hands on in the years during and after the pandemic, because the vendors’ inventories were always fluctuating and inconsistent from the main suppliers,” Ruiz explains. “Today, in the design phase, the design of storage—in particular refrigerated storage—is being reined back in a bit in terms of square footage. The food supply chain of real-time inventory and on-scheduled deliveries has returned for the most part back to pre-pandemic expectations.”
“At the end of the day,” Ewing concludes, “maintaining an open mind and embracing unconventional design solutions is essential—extraordinary times call for innovative, out-of-the-box thinking.”
