Pennsylvania gambling revenues hit a new high last year, recording revenues beyond the $5 billion mark in 2022
Last Updated: August 3, 2023
For the first time, Pennsylvania gambling revenues surged beyond the $5 billion mark to $5,042,967,392 in the 2021/2022 fiscal year ending June 30. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) reported that March 2022 and June 2022 had the highest revenues.
Last year’s revenues were over 30% higher than the 2020/2021 revenues, which stood at $3.9bn. 2020/2021 was also a record year after the revenues exceeded $2bn for the first time. The previous fiscal year, 2019/2020, had a high of $1.59 bn.
Pennsylvania March 2022 Gambling Revenues
According to PGCB, March was the best month overall in gambling revenue, having a record of $462.7 million. This was after the state recorded a surge in iGaming and retail table games revenues.
March 2022’s revenues were higher by 14.75 than March 2021’s revenues and 23.2% higher than February 2022’s revenues. The February 2022 revenues were $375.7 million.
PGCB reports show that all gambling verticals experience year-on-year growth. However, the greatest gainer was the iGaming sector, with revenues rising by 20.9% to hit a record $118.1 million.
iGaming Revenues
In March 2022, the online slots in Pennsylvania generated revenues amounting to $79.2 million. In the same period that table games generated $35.7 million, followed at a distant third by internet poker, which generated $3.2 million.
Casinos Leading in Revenues
Penn National’s Hollywood Casino generated $45.1 million to lead the pack. Rivers Casino Philadelphia, which generated $30.2 million, came second, and Valley Forge Casino Resort came third with $23.9m.
Sports Betting
Sports betting did not have a successful month in February after it suffered a $442,847 loss. That led to a 3.6% growth in March after casinos generated $30.4 million.
Online Sports Betting
Online sports betting continued to perform better, generating $25.4 million in wagers, while its retail revenue stood at $5.0 million. The state handle in sports betting for March grew by 27.6% year-on-year to stand at $715.0 million.
Sports Operators
Valley Forge, collaborating with FanDuel, was the most successful operator in March 2022, posting $15.4 million in revenues.
Meadows’ Barstool Sportsbook’s Hollywood Casino was at a distant second after generating $4.4 million in revenues. Rivers Casino Pittsburgh and BetRivers were third with $1.9 million.
Land-based Casinos
Retail table games experienced the most growth at 31.1%, to post $94.3 million in revenues. However, it was retail slots that generated the most revenue. And they had a 7.7% growth from March 2021’s revenues.
Retail slots generated the most revenues for the state at $214.7 million. That made them the primary source of gambling revenue for the state.
Video Lottery and Fantasy Sports
According to PGCB, video lottery terminal revenues increased to $3.8 million, which is 5.2% higher. However, fantasy sports revenues reduced to $1.4%, a drop of 22.7%. It was the only gambling sector that shrank in March.
Pennsylvania June 2022 Gambling Revenues
According to PGCB reports, June 2022 was the second best month after March 2022. June’s revenues stood at $389.8 million, which was a 0.24% year-on-year increase. And it generated $161.1 million in tax revenues for the state.
Land-based Casinos
The leading casinos were Hollywood Casino at Penn National, which generated $56.9 million. It was followed closely by Parx Casino, which generated $52.3. Rivers Casino Philadelphia came third with $42.6 million in revenues.
Slot Machines and Table Games
The leading games in revenue generated were slot machines and table games. Slot machines generated $192.9 million, which was a 5.48% increase from June 2020/2021 revenues. Tables generated gross revenues of $76 million, which is a drop of 1.89% year-over-year.
Online Casinos
Pennsylvania’s online casino revenues were up 15.76% from June 2021’s $88.9 million, generating $102.9 million. In June 2022, the state’s sports wagering handle dropped by 6.35% to $393.4 million. Moreover, the June taxable revenue dropped by 62.7% after the state collected $12.7 million only.
That is despite 2021/2022 being the best fiscal year so far in the gambling industry for Pennsylvania.
Overall Fiscal Year 2021/22 Gambling Revenues
According to PGCB, the revenue increase seen in the 2021/2022 fiscal year came about because of the record revenues from table games, growth in sports wagering, and continued growth in video gaming terminals (VGTs).
Retail Slot Machine Revenue
Slots machines revenues totaling $2.41 billion in 2021/22. That was a 27.69% increase from $1.89 billion generated in the fiscal year 2022/22. In the fiscal year 2019/20, slot machines generated a total of $1.70 billion in revenues.
Among the retail slot machine operators, Parx Casino generated the most revenues at $407.91 million. That was a 9.24% growth from the previous year’s $373.42 million. Wind Creek Bethlehem followed with $278.56 million, a 25.53% growth from 2020/21’s $221.91 million.
Rivers Casino Pittsburgh came in third after reporting $270.16 million in revenues.
Retail Table Games Revenue
Retail table games generated over $1 billion, which is a 40.73% increase from 2020/21’s $721.76 million. Three casinos led in generating high revenues from table games in 2021/22. They were Wind Creek Bethlehem, Parx Casino, and Rivers Casino Philadelphia.
Wind Creek Bethlehem generated $235.86 million. That was a 76.96% increase from 2020/21’s revenues of $133.29 million. Parx Casino followed closely at $213.74 million, 22.52% higher than 2020/21’s $174.46 million.
Rivers Casino Philadelphia was a distant second with $104.72 million. That was a 25.71% growth from its $83.30 million in the previous fiscal year.
iGaming Revenue 2021/22
iGaming revenue included revenue from online casino games such as slots, tables, and poker. iGaming casinos generated over $1.23 billion in revenues in the 2021/22 fiscal year, a 37.35% increase from $897.22 generated in 2020/21.
The top three leading operators in the iGaming scene were Hollywood Casino at Penn National, Rivers Casino Philadelphia, and Valley Forge Casino Resort. Collectively, the three operators generated $1.02 billion, which is over 85% of all iGaming revenues.
Hollywood Casino at Penn National generated $481.36 million. That was a 65.28% increase from the previous fiscal year’s $291.23 million.
Rivers Casino Philadelphia came second with $319.67 million, registering an increase of 30.86%. Rivers’ previous 2020/21 revenue stood at $244.29 million.
Valley Forge Casino Resort came third after generating $221.79 million. But it had higher growth than Rivers at 47.33% from its 2020/21 revenues of $150.54 million.
Sports Wagering Fiscal Year 2021/22 Revenue
Pennsylvania generated over $315.72 million from sports wagering in 2021/22, which was a 2.22% increase from the previous fiscal year.
The top three operators in revenues generated were Valley Forge Casino Resort, Hollywood Casino at the Meadows, and Hollywood Casino at Penn National.
However, only Valley Forge Casino Resort, among the top three operators, registered a growth in revenue in sports wagering. The other two registered a drop in revenues.
Valley Forge Casino Resort reported revenues amounting to $160.14 million, which was an increase of 26.73%. Valley Forge’s 2020/21 revenues stood at $126.36 million.
Hollywood Casino at the Meadows generated $52.47 million. That was a drop of -3.67% from the previous fiscal year’s revenues of $54.47 million.
Hollywood Casino at Penn National’s revenues dropped by 13.47%, from 2020/21’s $27.56 million to $23.85 million in 2021/22.
The biggest gainer in the sports wagering sector was Live! Casino Pittsburgh. It reported $1.62 million in revenues, a growth of 162.08% from the previous year’s $618,920.
It was followed by Mohegan Sun Lehigh Valley at 69.86% to register revenues of $1.40 million. Live! Casino Philadelphia was the third highest gainer at 56.83% to register revenues of $3.80 million.
Video Gaming Terminals
Pennsylvania generated $41.58 million in revenues from VGTs, which was a 32.71% increase from 2020/21’s $31.33 million. These revenues came from 65 VGT facilities by the end of 2021/22. That was a 30% increase in VGT facilities from the 50 facilities in 2020/21.
The top VGT terminal operators in terms of revenue generated were Marquee by Penn, Commonwealth Gaming, and J&J Ventures Gaming. Of the three top performers, J&J Ventures Gaming reported the highest growth at 183.45%. J&J Ventures Gaming revenues were $4.64 million.
Marquee by Penn reported a growth of 11.86% after generating $26.32 million, up from $23.53 the previous year. And Commonwealth Gaming experienced a 34.39% growth after reporting $6.04 million, up from FY 2020/21’s $4.49 million.
Fantasy Contests Revenue
The 2021/22 revenues from fantasy games dropped by 3.11% to $27.31 million, from the previous fiscal year’s $28.19 million. Moreover, the leading fantasy games operator also reported a 7.10% drop in revenue in this sector.
The top three operators in the fantasy games operations were DraftKings, FanDuel, and UnderDog Sports. DraftKings generated $15 million, down from $16.15 million the previous fiscal year.
FanDuel registered a 1.25% after generating $11.56 million, up from $11.41 million in 2020/21. UnderDog Sports had the highest growth at over 1000%. It generated $354,532, up from $3,930 in the previous fiscal year.
Conclusion – Pennsylvania Reports a Record $5bn
Slot machines continued to generate a bulk of the gambling revenue in Pennsylvania. In 2021/22, they generated a total of $2,410,313,212. But, online casinos and their diverse offering of gaming titles are not far behind, thanks to the launch of iGaming in Pennsylvania.
iGaming has continued to grow in leaps and bounds since 2019/20. And it is now the second highest gaming revenue generator, at $1,232,309,138 in 2021/22, despite its recent legalization.
Table Games in land-based casinos are still major contributors to revenue for the state. And they have continued to register consistent growth, with their 2021/22 revenues coming to $1,015,735,661. Overall, we expect to see iGaming overtake slot machines in the coming years.
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