Pennsylvania Casinos Bounce Back With Big September For Gambling Revenue
The end of summer was a lucrative time for Pennsylvania’s casinos, as gambling revenue in the state was up about three percent, or $7 million, year over year in September.
The top line numbers in PA
The news was good for most Pennsylvania casinos in terms of revenue last month.
Combined gross revenue from both slot machines and table games during September was $261 million, up 2.9 percent compared to September of last year. Just four of the state’s 12 casinos experienced a decline from September 2015.
The bounce-back month came after a poor showing for PA casinos in August.
Table games and slots both climbed, YoY:
- Gross revenue from table games was 4.35 percent higher than last year, generating $68.8 million, or $2.9 million more than in September 2015.
- Slot revenue came in at $192.1 million, a 2.4 percent increase.
Tax revenue eclipsed $113 million for the state in the month of September.
Revenue was flat month over month, compared to August.
[i15-table tableid=20717][i15-table tableid=20704]Parx is the big winner
Philadelphia’s Parx Casino had the best month of all the casinos.
Revenue was up almost 10 percent YoY, to $45.9 million. That put it almost $2 million ahead of Sands Bethlehem, the other casino in the state that jockeys for the top spot in revenue. Most of that was because of a 20 percent jump in table games revenue at Parx (up to $14.1 million).
Another Philadelphia casino had a good month, as well: SugarHouse. Revenue increased nearly 12 percent year over year, to $23.9 million. Most of that was due to increased slots revenue, up $1.6 million for the month. SugarHouse also recently launched an online gambling site in New Jersey that will be a new source of revenue. (Those figures won’t show up on the monthly PA revenue totals, however.)
The worst month for any of the PA casinos came at No. 3 in the revenue department, Rivers Casino. But even that wasn’t that poor for the Pittsburgh casino, which was down $700,000 from last September.
More on how all the casinos fared here.
On the casinos’ radar
The bottom line of the casinos is likely to be affected by what the legislature does in the near future.
The state Supreme Court recently struck down a tax on casinos as unconstitutional; the statehouse is likely to take up the issue soon.
The Senate may also consider online gambling legalization in the state, which would create new revenue streams for any casino that takes part.