Three years after the nation’s Tribal casino industry experienced its only annual gaming revenue decline in the 24 years since figures have been kept, the market is on an upswing. For the second straight year, Indian casinos nationwide combined for a new annual gaming revenue record, topping $28.13 billion in 2012.

The 2 percent increase was a lower percentage jump than in 2011 when Tribal casino business grew nationwide revenues 3.4 percent, to $27.59 billion. That’s a cause for concern, said California economist Alan Meister, who compiles the figures for Casino City’s annual Indian Gaming Industry Report.

“It was the third straight year of positive growth, which is a movement in the right direction,” Meister said. “But it reflected the slower growth of the economy.”

It takes a year for Meister to get the revenue figures from the 28 states with Indian casinos. Tribal casinos don’t publicly release monthly gaming revenue totals like Nevada and other states with commercial casinos. The report is being released today through Casino City.

Meister said Indian casinos — which traditionally recorded double-digit percentage revenue increases annually until 2007 — grew at a slower pace than the commercial casino industry (4 percent in 2012) and the race track casino market (8 percent in 2012).

In the report, Meister writes that it has been 18 years since commercial casinos had a higher annual growth rate than the Indian casino segment.

He said the trend could have been the result of increased gaming opportunities in several states that year.

Indian casinos made 43 percent of all U.S. casino gaming revenue in 2012.

Read more about the Tribal casino industry at the Las Vegas Review Journal.