Pennsylvania Casinos Generate Record $3.22BN in 2017

Pennsylvania’s casino market generated $3.22 billion in revenues last year, representing an all-time high for the state and a 0.4% improvement compared to the $3.213 collected in 2016. The Keystone State subsequently received $1.33 billion by way of tax revenues from its twelve licensed casinos.

Breaking the figures down, revenues from slot machines noted a 1% year-on-year decline to $2.336 billion, while table games went in the opposite direction with revenue increasing by 4.4% to $890.7 million.

In terms of overall revenues, leading the state’s 12 casinos last year was Parx with $566.5 million, followed by the Sands Bethlehem ($545.8m), Rivers ($335.5m), and the SugarHouse Casino, while Harrah’s Philadelphia, Hollywood Casino, The Meadows Casino, and Mohegan Sun came next with all venues generating around $20 million in revenue each.

Pennsylvania’s first slot machine casino opened in 2006, and after table games were added to the gambling mix in 2012 the state soon overtook New Jersey as the country’s second biggest casino market behind Nevada. During its first six years, Pennsylvania’s gambling market subsequently posted double-digit gains while New Jersey saw its revenues decline by similar figures, although Pennsylvania’s casino business eventually started to decline following an initial peak of $3.16 billion in 2012.

This was due to Pennsylvania seeing an increase in competition from nearby states such as Maryland, Ohio, New York and West Virginia, and in 2013 and 2014 Pennsylvania’s casino market actually fell by an annual rate of $45 million, although the contraction would have been much steeper if not for its new table game offerings. In 2015, revenues then got back on track after hitting $3.173 billion, with 2016’s result then up by 1.25% year-on-year to $3.213 billion, and now 2017’s total up by 0.4% to $3.22 billion, marking three year’s of consecutive record highs for the state.

Finally, Pennsylvania has now experienced seven straight years with revenue in excess of $3 billion, with 2018 also promising to be a bumper year after a gambling expansion was approved in 2017, including the legalisation of a state licensed online gambling industry. By comparison, New Jersey casinos market generated $2.66 billion in revenue last year, with online gambling accounting for $245.6 million of that amount, up by 24.9% versus the previous year.