Things have been rough the last several years for the U.S. casino industry. The nation’s casinos were hit harder than most businesses by the recession of 2008. With the industry relying on people spending disposable income on non-essentials, it was obviously one of the first to be scratched from the expenses of Americans who lost their jobs, took a pay cut, or are worried about losing their jobs. Though the U.S. economy overall continues to struggle, with a record number of people leaving the workforce, the number on welfare at an all-time high, and unemployment officially still over 8%, thinks are starting to improve for the casino industry.

The first quarter of 2012 has shown a slight improvement for the American casino industry. Overall, the revenue from the country’s 492 non-tribal casinos increased by 3%. In addition, the tax revenue to the government increased 4.5% from 2010. Last year, the American casino industry made $35.6 billion and provided 339,000 jobs, which is a job loss of only 0.5% from 2010, far better than the national average. Employee pay increased by 3% last year, a contrast to American pay overall, which declined.

In a story on http://news.google.com/, Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association, said that the numbers are a sign that “the recovery of the national commercial casino industry is well under way.”

This is good news for the American economy and of course for casinos in particular. Overall the economic recovery has been the slowest in America since the Great Depression. Some argue that there has been no recovery at all. The casino industry, on the other hand, seems to be slowly coming back from the dead.