It seems that legalizing sports betting and online gambling in Pennsylvania was a wise move, as the two types of gambling posted record revenue in January. The land-based variant did not perform poorly either, and slots were the main attraction one again.
The state of Pennsylvania is definitely going in the right direction when it comes to its gambling industry, as the figures in January show. Therefore, let’s take a closer look at the numbers and see what we can conclude from them. Read on!
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGBC) made an official release on Wednesday, publishing figures that are related to the gaming revenue in January across the state. The total revenue for this period was $300.8 million.
Compared to the same period last year, we could notice that there is a 17% increase, which is huge news for the state’s coffers.
Even compared to December 2019, there is $9 million more from revenue, which is also great, given that numbers are overall better during December than during January as people tend to spend more time and money in casinos during the Holidays.
Brick and Mortar Casinos
The brick-and-mortar casinos in the state reported an increase of 5.8% year-on-year for slots. The 12 properties recorded a total of $190.3 million revenue, and the most successful of them all was Parx Casino, which reported $35.8 million, with an 8% year-on-year increase.
The casino that also had a great month of January was Rivers Casino Pittsburgh, which earned $25 million and recorded a 7.1% increase.
On the other hand, table games weren’t as popular as slots in January, with a total revenue decrease of 2.5%, earning $72.5 million. Wind Creek Bethlehem and Parx were the only venues that recorded an increase, with Wind Creek earning $18.3 million (1.3% increase) and Parx reporting a 1% increase with $16.5 million.
Online Casinos
There are seven licensed online casinos in the state, which generated a total of $14 million in revenue last month. This was a huge increase from December when they earned $10.6 million. The state has a pretty high tax for these things, earnings approximately $5 million in the process.
Online slots earned a total of $72. Million while table games earned $4.6 million. The state also has one poker site, which earned $2.16 million — almost $2.5 million less compared to December 2019.
Sports Betting
The wagering handle for January in Pennsylvania was $348.4 million, which is a small increase from December when the reported handle was $342.6 million. Although the increase was minor, January still managed to set the record for a wagering handle.
The recorded revenue was $22.84 million, which is almost twice as much compared to December. The state’s share in this is $8.2 million.
Online sports betting was also a big thing, as online bettors managed to generate $308.5 million, which is 88.5% of the entire betting handle for January. Half of that was claimed by Valley Forge and FanDuel, as the two operators earned a total of $156 million.
On the other hand, Meadows Racetrack & Casino’s joint effort with DraftKings reported a $60.2 million handle. Finally, Rivers Philadelphia also had a small contribution, with a total of $35.7 million.
Valley Forge was also a leader in revenue, earning a total of $8.1 million. Rivers Pittsburgh came in second, earning $3.34 million.
February is expected to show slightly worse numbers compared to January as the NFL season is over.
