The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board on Tuesday, October 16 released a revenue report that showed that the state’s 12 licensed casino operators have won a total of $268.5 million in September, which was a rather surprising year-over-year decline over the same period last year. Now, the state, which is already preparing to kick off its sports betting market, is hoping that the new form of betting will significantly push back against the revenue plunges it has had to endure in the recent past.
The Details
Figures released by the state regulator showed that the state’s 12 licensed casino operators recorded a slightly less than 1 percent decline in revenue over the same period in 2017. While the casinos’ slot machines did their part in keeping the revenue numbers in the black by posting a modest 0.4 percent year-over-year increase to $196.2 million, the table games were not so lucky.
Of the total casino gaming revenue, the table games accounted for $72.3 million which was a rather significant 4.3 percent decline over September 2017’s $75.6 million. Also, the Keystone State’s 10 licensed poker rooms which have a total of 225 tables brought in $4.1 million over the last month, a decline of about 9 percent from $4.5 million over the same period in the previous year.
Sands Bethlehem to Blame?
Greenwood Gaming & Entertainment’s Philadelphia-based Parx Casino topped September’s revenue reports by with a 3.6 percent year-over-year bump to $49.2 million. Sands Bethlehem came in second, recording an over 10 percent decrease in revenue to $42.6 million while Rivers Casino came in at a distant third with a somewhat impressive 5.3 percent increase to $29.8 million.
Sands Casino Bethlehem clearly had a rough September – its slot machine revenue was down nearly 2.5 percent to $24.2 million while its table games revenue plunged 18.8 percent to $18.4 million even though the casino still ranks as the state’s top table games earner.
Fantasy Sports Sees Big Boost
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board has also recently posted on its website the September Fantasy Sports Contest Revenue Report that outlines the fees that have been collected from the Commonwealth’s daily fantasy sports participants, the tax revenue the state is set to collect as well as the adjusted revenue for the Fantasy Sports Contest Operators.
Daily fantasy sports revenue in the state totaled $2,133,714 which is more twice the $943,620 that was generated in August – this has been largely attributed to the NFL season which just recently kicked off. Of the state’s nine licensed daily fantasy sports operators, Draftkings and FanDuel claimed $1,174,327 and $948,838, respectively, which makes the market leaders in the thriving market.