Like New Jersey And Michigan, Pennsylvania Breaks Its Online Casino Record In March
Total gaming revenue in the state hits all-time high of $574.5 million, though retail dips 2.8%
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With 31 days to work with, including five Saturdays and Sundays, and with March Madness basketball drawing online gamblers to open their sportsbook apps that, in many cases, connect directly to their iCasino apps, March proved a record-setting month for online gambling revenue in Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board reported Monday morning that iGaming revenue in the state hit $238.2 million in March, a massive 24.6% year-over-year increase and a 6.5% bump over the previous single-month state record, set last December.
None of these numbers should be terribly surprising, giving the factors outlined above as well as the fact that last week, both New Jersey and Michigan reported their own online casino revenue records in March.
The iGaming record numbers were key in propelling Pennsylvania as a whole to a record month of gambling revenue, as the combination of land-based casinos, online casinos, sports betting, video gaming terminals (VGTs), and fantasy sites produced $574.5 million in total revenue. That equated to a 3.6% increase over the previous record, set one year prior in March 2024.
Total gaming tax revenue was $244.3 million. Online gaming produced $106.3 million of that, or 43.5% of the total haul for the state.
Online slots the reel deal
One thing made very clear by the numbers is that online slots play is rapidly rising in popularity in the Keystone State. Revenue from iSlots was up 32.5% year-over-year, while online table games enjoyed a more modest 5.8% increase.
Ranking of the iCasino sites is tricky, as Pennsylvania’s reporting combines sites that share a land-based casino partner.
So, as usual, Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course was tops in the state, with $90.7 million in revenue, but that was split among DraftKings Casino, BetMGM Casino, and other smaller brands. Valley Forge Casino Resort, retail partner to FanDuel Casino, placed second with $64.8 million in revenue.
Rivers Casino Philadelphia (BetRivers) came in third at $38.6 million, and Harrah’s Philadelphia (Caesars Palace Online) was the only other tether to cross into eight figures, at $10.7 million.
Online poker revenue was up 3.3% year-over-year to $2.56 million, and Mt. Airy Casino Resort (PokerStars) accounted for more than half of that at $1.33 million.
Retail keeps receding
Following the trends in other legal online gaming states, land-based revenue was slightly down in Pennsylvania. Retail slots revenue fell 2.4% year-over-year to $222.5 million and table games slipped 3.9% to $81.9 million for a combined decline of 2.8%.
As usual, Parx Casino was the slots revenue leader, raking in $34.4 million, well ahead of Wind Creek Bethlehem’s $25.8 million and Rivers Casino Pittsburgh’s $24.3 million.
On the table games side, Wind Creek led the way, as it typically does, with $23.4 million, and Parx was the only other venue that came close, at $17.8 million.
Total sports wagering handle in the state was up 5.3% to $842.9 million, but bettors performed relatively well and limited the sportsbooks to just $27 million in taxable revenue, down a whopping 40.7% year-over-year. More details of sports betting revenue and handle will be available soon at Casino Reports’ sister site InGame.
Regulated truck-stop VGT revenue was essentially flat year-over-year at $3.72 million, dropping about $24,000 compared to March 2024.
Fantasy revenue, meanwhile, was up 6.9% to $1.18 million. DraftKings is far and away the DFS leader in the state, producing 77.9% of the fantasy revenue total.
