Pennsylvania Gaming Revenues Climb For Ninth Straight Month

Gaming revenue in Pennsylvania was up for the ninth straight month year-over-year.
The top-line figures for PA gaming revenue
Combined gross revenue from both slot machines and table games during May eclipsed $280 million. That is up about one percent over May of last year, when casinos took about $278 million.
That comes on the heels of a record-breaking April and March that saw huge gains for the state in gaming revenue.
The May figures were buoyed by table game revenue; the $71.3 million taken in by PA casinos was up $4.5 million from May 2015. Slot machine revenue was actually down 1.1 percent, year over year.
Tax revenue for the state stood at more than $10.1 million. Figures out recently show Pennsylvania generates more tax revenue than any other state on gambling and other sin taxes.
Inside the PA gaming numbers
Revenue was a mixed bag, depending on the casino whose revenue figures you are looking at.
Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem outpaced Parx Casino to lead all casinos in gaming revenue for the first time in a long time, generating $47.5 million to Parx’ $47.1 million. Both figures produced growth over last May: 6 percent for Sands and 5 percent for Parx.
The No. 3 property in terms of gross revenue, Pittsburgh’s Rivers Casino, was down 5 percent.
It was a mixed bag for some of the smaller casinos based on volatility in table games. Valley Forge saw an increase of 32 percent for table games YoY, and up 5 percent with slots included. Mohegan Sun Pocono and Lady Luck Casino Nemacolin both saw table game revenues decrease more than 25 percent and overall decreases of more than 5 percent.
Will state add to the gambling revenue pie?
The increasing numbers come as the state continues to consider whether to institute an expansion of gambling in the state, one that would include online gambling.
That legislation came up at the end of May but has been sidelined since a series of confusing votes in the House. But the proposal is still on the table, with online gambling alone capable of generating tens of millions of dollars in revenue for the state from licensing and taxes.