Pennsylvania Operators Report 7.1% Growth in May, Revenues at $479M

Article ByDavid Weir

June 21, 2023

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Posted in: Pennsylvania Gambling News, US Gambling News

Pennsylvania’s gambling sector pulled in exactly $479,377,660 in revenues in May. That’s according to the latest figures from the state’s Gaming Control Board.

Online and offline slots continued to be the big winners for the state’s operators. Online slots saw a 28% upswing from last May’s figures, just edging the $100 million mark. Physical casino slot machines only gained 2% year-on-year, but that was still enough to break $210 million.

Only retail table games and fantasy sports betting saw some declines compared to last May.

The biggest revenue drawer of all 17 gambling venues in the Keystone State in May was Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course. It brought in $74.356 million compared to $62.8 million last May, for an 18.33% change.

Related: The top online casinos in Pennsylvania, expertly rated

Online Gains

As in many legal states, online casino operations in Pennsylvania have to partner with a local land-based casino. Out of the 17 licensed venues, nine have chosen to do so.

That extra revenue stream means, when calculating overall revenues, those nine casinos took most of the top spots.

Hollywood Casino at the Meadows was the only Pennsylvania venue operator without an online equivalent to hit the top 10 for revenues in May. And they are part of the Hollywood brand, which does have an online casino in the state via its Penn National venue.

The two top spots, online and offline, were taken by Hollywood Penn National and Valley Forge Casino Resort.

Both operators saw double digit revenue rises for their online operations over May 2022’s figures. However, Hollywood Penn National remained far in front in total online revenue, bringing in $58.3 million. Valley Forge came a distant second with $29.5 million.

The bottom online operator on the list was Presque Isle and Downs, which did not report.

Ahead of them was Wind Creek Bethlehem’s online operation, with $1.798 million in revenues. However, even the bottom of the pack online casino in Pennsylvania shows 40.78% growth over last May.

Not one online casino reporting in the state made less in this May than they did a year ago.

Pennsylvania online casinos have a 54% flat tax, so State coffers were also in for a windfall – to the tune of $60.7 million.

Retail Table Games, Fantasy Sports Down

The only sectors of the Pennsylvania gaming sector to see revenues decline in May were fantasy sports and retail table games.

Fantasy sports always suffer when states legalize sports betting, as fans and companies switch to the wider possibilities of actual sports betting. In Pennsylvania in May, operator Sportshub Technologies made just $22 in revenue.

Even the mighty FanDuel, one of the US’ biggest gambling operators nationally, saw a 48% decrease in fantasy sports revenue from last year to $303 thousand.

Table games at Pennsylvania’s physical casino venues also declined, but not nearly as much. Table games made 7.8% less revenue than in May 2022. But that was still $81 million all told.

Interestingly, the worst performing online casino partner, Wind Creek Bethlehem, pulled in the highest revenues from physical table games. It made $19.825 million over the month, although that was down 11% on last year’s figure.