Pennsylvania Slots Revenue Up 5.7% To $210 Million In August

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board has just released its revenue figures for August revealing a 5.7% increase in slots revenue to $210.6 million compared to $199.2 million for the same month in 2011. In total, Pennsylvania state collected $113.6 million in tax revenue for August.
Looking exclusively at the 10 casinos that were also operating in August last year, gross revenue was actually up by 3.7%, but this year’s figures were boosted by the opening of the Valley Forge casino on March 31st, which brought in an extra $4 million in slots revenue.
Overall, six of Pennsylvania’s casinos recorded increases in their August revenue tallies, including Sands Casino Resort up 14.4% to $24.9 million, Parx up 5.5% to $31.5 million, Harrah’s Philadelphia Casino up 5.9% to $21.9 million, SugarHouse Casino up 11.8% to $15.8 million, Mount Airy Casino Resort up 13.3% to $14.1 million and Rivers Casino up 5% to $24 million.
However, seven casinos noted declines in revenue including Presque Isle Downs down 9.2% to $13.4 million, Meadows Race track and Casino down 4% to $20.8 million, Mohegan Sun down 3.2% to $20 million and Hollywood Casino down less than 1% to $20.2 million.
Helping to explain the uptrend in declining revenues is the increase in competition from neighboring Ohio, which has recently embraced the benefits of operating casinos in the state. Mid-May saw the opening of its first commercial gambling venue, the $350 million Horseshoe Casino Cleveland, followed the same month by the Hollywood Casino Toledo. At least two more casinos are expected to open in the next few months including one in Columbus, and another in Cincinnati.
Pennsylvania opened the doors of its first casino, the Pocono Downs, in 2006 later adding table games in 2010. According to the state Gaming Control Board; “combined table game and slots machine revenue from 11 Pennsylvania casinos, including Valley Forge, amounted to more than $3.1 billion in the fiscal year of July 2011 through June 2012, a 10 percent increase from previous fiscal year.”
With the increased competition from neighboring states, it will be interesting to see how severely Pennsylvania’s gambling figures will be impacted in the future.