We are still in the middle of a pandemic but thanks to all of the recovery efforts that are ongoing across the country, there have been significant improvements in various sectors. The Keystone State’s gaming sector is one of the ones that has shown significant improvement over the past couple of months following all of the measures that had been put in place to ensure the resurgence of gambling businesses.
To put this into perspective, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGBC) has recently reported a 1 percent year-over-year rise in gaming revenue for September. This is despite the fact that there was a slight decline in gaming activity especially online after some gaming venues reopened their doors. The 1 percent rise in gaming revenue, as it turns out, was still primarily due to online casinos and sports betting. Pennsylvanian casinos generated $284.2 million from gaming and fantasy contests last month up from $281.2 million in September 2019.
Even So, total gaming revenue still saw an 8.5 percent decline when compared to the $310.7 million that the sector generated in August. This is most likely due to the aforementioned decline in online gambling activities as brick-and-mortar gaming venues began to reopen.
It is also still very impressive that a whopping $119 million in tax revenue went to state coffers. As small as the year-over-year may seem, it is a pretty strong indicator that the sector is heading for a pretty strong resurgence. This is despite all the troubles it has faced due to the pandemic.
High Hopes for Sports Betting
Needless to say, there has always been massive interest in the Keystone State’s sports betting market ever since it went live. The pandemic wreaked havoc on the sector but, thankfully, there are already some improvements. For instance, with the football season kicking off again in September, it was pretty clear that sports wagering would record huge improvements. Total sports betting handle across the state rose to $462.8 million which is over 50 percent higher than the $194.5 million that the sector posted in September 2019.
Unfortunately, this improvement did not apply across the board especially with regards to taxable revenue. It neared just $6.3 million which is a pretty huge 58 percent year-over-year drop. Now, as much as this may seem disappointing, it is safe to say that it was an expected change especially considering that everything is yet to stabilize. Things will certainly get better soon as proven by the intense efforts to bring back various activities across the Keystone State. It is a pretty good start.