With betting on the rise in states like Pennsylvania, it comes as no surprise to find that each month it’s operational, new records are being set. Pennsylvania has a growing number of online casinos, and this is what’s contributing to the revenue increase from this year to the last. In fact, iGaming experts have ranked a number of new Pennsylvania online casinos specifically to allow players to find the top sites and make a better decision on where to play.
However, we’re going to take a look at exactly what this revenue increase is, and how Pennsylvania keeps beating its own record.
Monthly revenues on the rise
Each month, US states with gambling regulations in place will release the latest figures for their gambling revenue. This September, there have been some impressive increases that have led to Pennsylvania breaking previous records.
Across all forms of gambling, both revenue and online, there’s been another record set. Impressively, in September, the state had a profit of $476.3 million which is an impressive increase of 6.2% when looking at September 2022. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) is in charge of checking and releasing these numbers.
The previous month of August had also seen massive growth from the same month back in 2022. In fact, August, with a revenue of $457.1 million, was already a massive increase and record. August actually had a 7.5% increase on 2022. But September 2023 simply blew that out of the water.
Top casino revenues
As it’s been time and time again for the last months, Hollywood Casino held the top spot in PA. In September, the casino had a revenue of $77 million, up 16% from the $66 million it earned last year. It’s even up an impressive amount from August where the casino already scooped up $75.2 million.
Next in line are Parx Casino and Valley Forge. These two sites are consistently swapping places with each other. Depending on the month, one or other of them takes second place. This month, Valley Forge is once again number two, bringing in $66.1 million, an impressive 25% increase from 2022. It’s also a massive jump from August 2023 too. The previous month, the casino pulled in just $48 million.
Record-breaking tax revenue increase
As there is tax in place for gambling in the state, it’s pertinent to look at the situation here too. It’s on the rise as well, reaching over $197 million this September. And, it’s actually a record for monthly gross revenue this month too, with an impressive $159 million. Put it this way, it’s a 41% increase from the $112.7 million from September 2022. Previously, this tax revenue record was held back in March 2023, when the state’s tax revenue was $148.2 million.
Online and retail revenue
Retail is still winning the battle here, but then again, it has been around for longer. Sports betting in all forms is also doing incredibly well if we break down the differences between casinos and sportsbooks.
For instance, sports betting for both in-person and online betting hit $726.3 million this September, and this includes eSports. Impressively, it’s still an improvement on the already well-settled sports betting market. In 2022, the revenue for September was $645 million, so that’s already a 12.6% increase. So, in terms of sports betting taxable revenue, this was actually down 27% from 2022.
In other gambling sectors, retail slots saw a revenue of $199.9 million. Though small, this was still a 0.7% increase from the previous year. Where this is impressive is that there are now 4,000 fewer retail slots in operation this year compared to last. Retail table game revenue was actually lower with a drop of 7.8% compared to last September. Perhaps this is a sign that the online gambling world is on the rise at last.
This is indicated in the gross revenue for online casino games, which have a 47% increase this month to $114.7 million compared to the $77.8 million from 2022. Similarly, online table games have increased in revenue 31% since last year, going from $32 million to $42 million in 12 months.
In fact, all forms of in-person or retail betting were down this month, even though they still earned more than their online counterparts. The tide might be shifting in favour of online games and betting.
