Pennsylvania Posts Record Casino Revenues for 2016

Pennsylvania’s casino industry has posted its second consecutive year of record revenues, with 2016’s total up 1.25% to $3.21 billion compared to the $3.173 billion that was generated in 2015.
In December, the state’s table game revenues reached $71.87 million, down by 0.48% versus the same month last year. Combined with the year’s other figures, however, Pennsylvania’s table games generated revenues of $853.2 million in 2016, up by 5.6% over 2015’s tally, and representing a new high for the Keystone state.
In the meantime, slot revenues for December came in at $185.3 million, or 6.2% less than the same month last year, with just Philadelphia’s SugarHouse and the Valley Forge Casino Resort posting year-on-year slots growth. As a result, Pennsylvania’s slot vertical generated revenues of $2.36 billion for the whole of 2016, or 0.2% down on 2015.
Commenting on the positive table game numbers, and slightly lower slots revenues, Gaming Control Board spokesman Doug Harbach pointed to the fact table games had been introduced four years later than slot machines, before adding:
“I think the rules also in Pennsylvania for many games, including Black Jack, have shown to be favorable toward players. And because of that, I think we’re getting good numbers of people staying in Pennsylvania, coming to Pennsylvania and playing the tables.”
Pennsylvania opened its first slots-only casino back in 2006, followed by table games in 2010, and over the past decade the state’s regulated casino industry has produced revenues of almost $25.9 billion, of which $21.2 billion has come from slot machines, and around $4.66 billion from table games. In the meantime, Pennsylvania’s casino industry has overtaken New Jersey to become the USA’s second biggest casino market, and over the past six years its annual casino revenues have exceeded $3 billion. By contrast, neighboring New Jersey’s casino market was worth just $2.6 billion last year.
Pennsylvania casino industry provides employment for around 18,000 people, and to date almost $1.4 billion in gambling taxes have been collected to fund local projects, as well as help reduce homeowners’ property taxes.