Pennsylvania Casino Revenue Takes A Slide in August
The dog days of summer hit Pennsylvania’s casinos in August.
The top-level numbers in Pennsylvania
Casino revenue was down 4.3 percent in Pennsylvania in August year-over-year according to figures released by the gaming control board.
That is about $12.7 million in revenue lost, YoY.
Slots, table games both perform poorly
Things went badly for both segments of the PA casino industry.
Table games were down 3.7 year-over-year in August; table games revenue stood at $67 million, or $2.6 million less than over the same time period last year.
The story was even worse for slot machines, which were down 4.5 percent, or more than $9 million, YoY ($194 million in August 2016 vs. $203 million in 2015).
Still, casinos generated nearly $115 million in tax revenue for the state.
One caveat too help explain the poor numbers was that there was one fewer weekend in August of this year compared to last year.
PA winners and losers
There were a lot more losers in the PA casino industry than winners.
The only casino to do better than it did in August of last year was Philadelphia’s SugarHouse Casino. Revenue there was up $1.5 million, or more than seven percent.
Parx Casino, also in Philly, was basically flat, amazingly falling just $156 behind last August’s tally.
Beyond that, there weren’t any success stories. Things went the worst at The Meadows and Mount Airy, with both suffering double-digit percentage losses YoY.
Pittsburgh’s Rivers Casino had the worst month in terms of raw dollars, down about $3 million.
[i15-table tableid=20717][i15-table tableid=20704]Will August be a blip on the radar?
Pennsylvania’s casinos certainly hope August was an aberration in terms of revenue.
It had generally been a banner year for PA gambling revenue until now. The fiscal year that ended in June resulted in a new record for gross gaming revenue.
September is another four-weekend month — albeit one that includes the Labor Day holiday. Gaming interests in the state will look for a rebound as fall approaches.
Also of note as summer turns to fall for casinos on the revenue front: Online gambling legislation could be on the legislature’s radar.