Pennsylvania gaming industry surpasses $500m in March revenue

Pennsylvania
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Pennsylvania’s total gaming industry celebrated a landmark month in March as it surpassed $500m in revenue for the first time. 

As per data published by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, all forms of gambling across the Keystone State combined to rake in $515.3m in revenue, up 11.4% year-over-year. 

The largest contributor to the success of March was slot games at land-based casinos, which generated $225.4m in revenue, up 5% YoY. Meanwhile, retail table games made $85.9m, down 8.9% YoY.

Meanwhile, online casino yielded $148.2m in revenue, up 25.5% YoY, driven by the growth of online slots, which contributed $104.8m towards the vertical’s revenue. 

Per operator, Hollywood Casino at Penn National was the online casino market leader in Pennsylvania during March, taking $62.3m, up 38.3% YoY. Penn National was followed by Valley Forge Casino Resort, which generated $31.8m, and Rivers Casino Philadelphia took $30.5m. No other operator generated above $6m of revenue from igaming. 

With an effective tax rate of 54% on online casino revenue in Pennsylvania, operators paid out $56.5m in taxes to the state, county, and local shares last month. 

Sports betting record biggest growth 

March proved to be a successful month for Pennsylvania’s sports betting industry too, as it generated $50.6m in revenue, up 66.6% YoY as March Madness betting boosted operators’ margins. 

Total sports betting handle stood at $723.5m during the month, 1.2% above March 2022’s figure of $714.9m, but improved hold rates across the board saw the revenue figure boosted. 

The hold rate, 9.2%, was a strong showing for the sportsbook operators as they managed to improve revenue on one year ago by two-thirds, despite fairly stagnant handle. 

FanDuel market leader in Pennsylvania 

FanDuel handled $280.7m last month, more than any other operator in the Keystone State. DraftKings was in second place, handling $187.9m, and BetMGM made up the top three, taking $56.4m in bets. 

Here is a list of other operators’ handle: 

Caesars: $56.4m

Barstool: $36.9m

BetRivers: $32.1m

PlaySugarHouse: $30.5m

It was the Flutter brand that also took the top spot on the revenue front, generating $30.4m, with a 10.8% hold rate. DraftKings generated $15.1m with an 8% hold rate and BetMGM’s slightly stronger hold of 11.2% allowed it to yield $6.3m 

Here’s a list of other operators’ revenue (hold rate) 

Barstool: $2.9m (7.9%)

BetRivers: $2.8m (8.7%)

Caesars: $1.9m (4.8)

PlaySugarHouse: $1.6m (5.2%)

These revenue figures include the tax-deductible promotional credit which, in March, added up to $15.9m. This left sportsbook operators with $50.6m in taxable revenue. 

With a 36% tax rate in place on revenue in Pennsylvania, operators paid out $18.2m to the state for March. 

Taking both sports betting and online casino, operators paid $74.7m to the state last month. 

Other verticals

There were other, smaller verticals that contributed to Pennsylvania’s record gaming month, including VLTs, which recorded $3.8m in revenue, which was actually down almost 2% YoY. 

Fantasy contests also remained fairly stagnant, generating operators $1.4m in revenue.