Pennsylvania’s commercial casinos are walking on sunshine after reaching a new high in last year’s revenue. According to data acquired from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB), the gross gaming revenue (GGR) from sports betting, land-based casinos, online casino games, as well as online fantasy sports contests, totaled a whopping $3,309,766,175. This figure is more than $59 million bonus on top of the previous record set during the 2017/18 fiscal year.
A huge percentage of the all-time record was attributed to Slot machines with terminals delivering revenue of more than $2.37 billion. Table games delivered $885.5 million, sports betting a total of $21.7 million while fantasy games delivered an unprecedented $23.5 million. This high record of returns can be attributed to an aggressive new expansion of gambling that was sanctioned by state lawmakers as well as Governor Tom Wolf back in 2017.
As a result of these reforms, Pennsylvania was able to see gambling occur online, in truck stops and airports for the very first time. This major expansion came in the wake of government officials’ search for other ways to repair the state’s struggling economy. As a result of these reforms, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board reported that revenue at the 12 casinos in the state, as well as through fantasy sports contests and video gambling terminals located at truck stops, shot up in 2019 by $146 million (or 4.5%) from 2018 to an astounding $3.4 billion.
As it currently stands, Pennsylvania’s gaming industry is the second richest in the nation with the state of Nevada leading the charge. Alternatively, Las Vegas and the remainder of the Silver State recorded a GGR of $11.9 billion in 2018. This growth has been constant for the past 5 years and it shows no signs of slowing down.
Here is a breakdown of the recorded revenue figures
Slot machines produced the lion’s share of the revenue while table games produced more than $900 million from previously recorded $25 million. Online gambling through licensed casinos, on the other hand, produced approximately $34 million while sports betting recorded $84 million. Video gambling terminals otherwise contributed about $26 million a figure that increased by $10.5 million from the year 2018.
Sports betting still the most popular choice for many
Sports betting was the most lucrative vertical in online gambling. As of December, operators had collected an amazing $14.5 million in revenue from online sports betting, a figure which towered over the $2.2 million produced from land-based sports betting. The state’s lottery was also one of the nation’s largest, boasting $1 billion in profits from $4 billion in sales.
