Pennsylvania sports betting handle soars, revenue slides

Pennsylvania’s gambling market posted a modest year-on-year revenue gain in September as online casino sales hit another record high.

Figures released Friday by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) show state-licensed online and land-based gambling operators generated combined revenue of $284.2m, up 1% from the same month last year while falling well short of August 2020’s $310.7m.

Land-based casino operations continue to struggle under pandemic-related capacity restrictions, with total slots and table revenue of $216.6m, down from $259m in September 2019 but also below August 2020’s $232m. September’s slots were down 16.4% year-on-year to $157.4m while tables fell 16.2% to $59.2m.

Online casino revenue totaled $57m, up $1m from August’s previous market record. The state’s regulated online gambling market was only a couple months old in September 2019, during which revenue totaled a mere $4.1m.