Pennsylvania Online Casino Revenue Leaps 26.7% Year-Over-Year In August
State rakes in $215M in gaming taxes, $82M of which came from legal iCasino play
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Same story, different month: Online casino play continues growing significantly in Pennsylvania five years after launch, helping overall gaming revenue to rise — albeit modestly compared to iCasino specifically.
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board reported August figures on Wednesday morning, and noted an 11.6% increase in total gaming revenue compared to August 2023 — from $457.2 million last year to $510.2 million this year. The biggest spike came in the iGaming sector, where online slots, tables, and poker combined for $183.7 million in revenue this August, up 26.7% over the $145 million raked in the previous August.
Online slots revenue grew the most, up 31.4% to $138.3 million. Online table games revenue was a fair bit behind, at 15.9% growth to $43.1 million. But that’s still far better than online poker, which declined 8.9% to $2.2 million in revenue.
When all was said and done, the Keystone State collected $215 million in gaming taxes for the month, of which about $120 million came from retail slots and tables and $82 million resulted from online play. The remaining scraps were divided among sports betting ($10.8 million), video gaming terminals ($1.9 million) and fantasy sports (just under $100,000).
A twist on DK vs. FD vs. MGM
As usual, Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course — whose digital partners include both DraftKings Casino and BetMGM Casino — led the way in online casino revenue, at $72.1 million. However, second-place Valley Forge Casino Resort (partnered with FanDuel) showed far greater year-over-year growth, increasing 41.8% to $45.9 million.
Rivers Casino placed third at $30.9 million, and every other online platform came in under $10 million in revenue.
Mount Airy Casino Resort, partnered with PokerStars, was tops in the state in online poker revenue at $1.2 million, about triple its closest competitor.
The total iGaming revenue of $183.7 million was Pennsylvania’s highest since March and marked the seventh straight month between $160 million and $192 million.
On the brick-and-mortar side, it was a close race for the top spot between Parx Casino in Bensalem and Wind Creek Bethlehem. Parx was no. 1 in slots revenue with $32.6 million to Wind Creek’s $25.2 million, but Wind Creek won more on table games, with $22.4 million compared to $15.6 million for Parx. That left the two properties in a near dead heat when combining the two forms of casino gaming: Parx came in at $48.2 million, Wind Creek at $47.6 million.
Big boost for sports betting ahead of NFL season
Sports wagering was the other area showing major Y-o-Y growth in August. Handle rose 23.5% to $485.2 million, and revenue jumped 36.2% to $30 million. That computes to a 6.2% hold rate for the operators.
Of the $30 million in revenue, $25.5 million came via mobile sportsbooks.
Valley Forge/FanDuel was the leader in the state in both handle ($176.5 million) and revenue ($13.3 million), although when all the Hollywood properties in Pennsylvania are combined, along with their online sports wagering arms, the handle is higher — but the revenue still trails that of Valley Forge and FanDuel.
Pennsylvania does not break out revenue by sport, but logic suggests FanDuel Sportsbook’s position at the forefront of the parlay movement, with parlays traditionally producing stronger hold for the house than straight bets, is central to its impressive revenue figures.
The early returns for bet365 in Pennsylvania aren’t great, as August marked its first full month in the state and partner casino Presque Isle Downs reported a loss of nearly $550,000 in online sports betting for the month. That’s not unusual, however, in the early stages for a new sportsbook, due to promotional offers helping bettors out. A close look at the numbers shows bet365 with $2.07 million in revenue in August, but $2.54 million in promotional credits.
