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.
