Texas, Georgia among casino growth targets for 2026, beyond

In 2025, a number of macroeconomic and regulatory challenges in the US tamped down some of the optimism for retail casino growth, particularly in Las Vegas and New York. But now that 2026 is here, the question becomes, “Where are the next big expansion targets for the sector?”

Surprises may emerge, but at present there are three primary regions to monitor for the year ahead:

• Texas
• Georgia
• Indianapolis

Texas has long been the jewel in Las Vegas Sands’ sights, and the company is renewing its push for progress in 2026, a legislative off-year. Any gambling expansion progress there has been slow going up to now for Sands and all other gaming stakeholders.

Georgia, meanwhile, has emerged as a potential casino hub after a House committee hosted a series of meetings in 2025 discussing gaming expansion. But like Texas, Georgia has been stubbornly out of reach for gaming expansion for many years now, and its opportunities are perhaps less enticing by comparison.

Finally, Indianapolis could be a dark-horse casino candidate, thanks to new intrigue related to potential licence relocation opportunities throughout the state. That intrigue has yet to be put to the test, although that could change this year.

Can Sands crack the Texas code in 2026?

2025 was something of a mixed year for Las Vegas Sands. Its success in Singapore and Macau led to strong performance that propelled the operator to finish the year as the most valuable gambling company in the world by market capitalisation ($44 billion).

But its two US growth pursuits – a New York resort on Long Island and a Texas resort outside Dallas – were both swings and misses. Sands ultimately withdrew from New York altogether and pulled the casino component from its Texas plans, at least for now.

Last year was a multi-faceted effort in the Lone Star State, with Sands and its controlling shareholder Miriam Adelson bolstering their political spending in hopes of either legalising casinos or gaining ground with casino-friendly candidates. Neither came to fruition – there was no legislative progress and a Sands-backed state Senate candidate failed to even reach a run-off in November.

Despite this, optimism remains high, with several analysts still circling the Dallas-Fort Worth region as perhaps the most enticing domestic target. With a population of over 8 million, the DFW metropolitan area is the fourth-largest in the US, behind only New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Sands’ latest media efforts centre around the angle of replicating Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands resort in the US.

“Dallas is the only other place in the world that we think can match Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. It’s that simple,” Andy Abboud, Sands’ senior vice president, told NBC5 in November.

“There is not this level of facility even in Las Vegas, Nevada,” he added. “People need to rethink anything they’ve seen in Texas or Las Vegas and imagine a whole new level of entertainment and hospitality.”

Georgia on the industry’s mind

For several years, the Peach State has been anything but peachy for gaming expansion. This is especially true of online sports betting, though casino gaming was brought into the equation with the formation of the House Study Committee on Gaming in the State of Georgia last summer. The committee was tasked with studying the pros and cons of expanding various forms of gaming in the state, casinos included. A total of four hearings were held, with 35 presenters.

One of the analysts who presented in August was Josh Swissman, managing director of GMA Consulting. Swissman told iGB that Georgia “checks all the boxes” as a casino growth target.

The state has a sizable population – approximately 8.1 million, eighth in the US – and the Atlanta metro area in particular is sixth-largest at 6.3 million. It is also flanked by very little casino competition in Alabama, Tennessee and the Carolinas. Florida and its Seminole-Hard Rock casinos are the biggest competition, but that might not prove insurmountable.

“Most of the Florida casino density is in the southern part of the state, which gets pretty far down in terms of travelling,” Swissman said. “And there’s generally some pretty strong pockets of wealth and higher-net worth individuals in Georgia too, so there’s a lot of different reasons why it could be an attractive market for operators and developers.”

Legislative and regulatory approvals notwithstanding, Swissman feels the market could support several licences and operator types. During committee hearings, multiple companies presented, including Wynn Resorts, Bally’s Corp, Boyd Gaming and Gaming and Leisure Properties.

“I would imagine that there could be a number of licences, some more attractive to the larger operators but also a number of regional-type facilities to cater to some of those road travellers,” Swissman said.

The race for a downtown Indy casino

Indianapolis has never been considered a casino hub, but that could change based on recent developments.

Full House Resorts, which operates Rising Star Casino in Rising Sun, Indiana, in 2024 embarked on efforts to relocate the property to the city of New Haven due to poor performance. That required legislative approval, which did not materialise.

However, the momentum for a casino shake-up in the state continued in 2025 with the passage of SEA 43. The bill required state regulators to commission a study determining the top two candidates for a potential licence relocation. Spectrum Gaming Group submitted its 45-page relocation report on 30 September.

“Spectrum identified and selected the four zip code areas with the highest unmet gaming-revenue potential to model the estimated revenue a casino in each area could generate,” the study said. “Our modelling shows that the top two locations with the greatest [adjusted gross receipt] potential are in the downtown Indianapolis area and an area north of Fort Wayne.”

Indianapolis is the 16th-largest city in the US (approximately 900,000). All 15 cities ahead of it are either in states that have casinos in dense population centres (Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, New York), are tribal-only (California, Florida, North Carolina, Arizona) or have no casinos (Texas).

Multiple casino bills are now expected to be offered in this year’s legislative session. Senate Bill 70 would allow Rising Star to relocate to either Allen County or Fort Wayne, but state Senator Aaron Freedman has indicated plans to file a bill to bring a casino to Indianapolis. Currently, Horseshoe Indianapolis, located about 30 miles away in Shelbyville, is the closest property to the city.

Jess Marquez

Jess has covered the global gaming industry since 2022. A native of Reno, Nevada, he’d like to note that it’s Ne-va-da, not Ne-VAH-da.