As competition and interest rates continue to rise, it becomes more critical to understand how leveraging in a competitive market will impact casino firms whose returns are sensitive to changes in financing costs. However, research on the effects of leverage and competition on firm value is scarce. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore the effectiveness of leveraging strategies by examining the moderating effect of competition on the relationship between leverage and firm performance in the U.S. casino industry. Analyzing a panel dataset of U.S. publicly traded casino firms from 1992 to 2014, this study finds an inverted U-shaped relationship between leverage and firm performance in the U.S. casino industry while the negative effect of leverage intensifies for highly leveraged casino firms as levels of competition increase. The findings of this study provide valuable insights into whether or not a leveraged growth strategy can contribute to improving performance in the competitive casino markets.