Pennsylvania set a record for gambling revenue during the 2020/2021 fiscal year (FY), nearly $3.9 billion, driven in no small part by online casino and sports wagering revenue, according to data from the state Gaming Control Board (PGCB).
In just its second year, revenue from online casino gaming totaled $897.2 million in FY2020/2021, which ended on June 30. That represented a 73% increase from the $240.9 million that online casino games made in FY2019/2020.
Online and retail sports betting also surged to hit a record $308.9 million in its third year of existence—up 63% from $113.7 million in FY2019/2020 and a whopping 93% from FY2018/2019, when sports betting brought in just under $22k.
Fantasy sports contests and video gaming terminals (VGTs) also helped push the state to its revenue record. In its fourth year of existence, the former was $28.2 million in FY2020/2021, up 26% from $20.9 million recorded in the prior FY, while the latter totaled $31.3 million, up 79% from $6.8 million in FY2019/2020, the first year for VGTs.
Overall, revenue was up 30% from the pandemic year ($2.7 billion) and up about 14.5% from FY2018/2019 ($3.3 billion, the previous high), signaling that the gaming industry in the Keystone State is growing strongly.
“The year over year increase of revenue this past fiscal year was significant, primarily as a direct result of casino shutdowns and other factors related to COVID-19 restrictions,” the PGCB said in a statement. “This included closure of casinos for three months in Q2 of 2020 affecting slot machine, table games, VGTs and retail sport wagering revenue, along with the stoppage of play of major sporting events which further affected sports wagering.”
Revenue from slots and table games—which totaled about $1.9 billion and $722 million, respectively in FY2020/2021—rebounded from the pandemic year but were down from the prior FY. Slots were off about 21% and table games down 18% from FY2018/2019.
Online Casino Revenue Down in June
Pennsylvania’s online casino revenue for June 2021 was $86.5 million, down a record high of $98.6 million in May. It was the lowest revenue total for online casino revenue in the last four months.
The market continued to be dominated by operators using the Hollywood Casino, Rivers-Philadelphia and Valley Forge Casino licenses. They have held that order in terms of revenue and market share for the last seven months.
Hollywood led the way with $34.5 million in revenue and a 40% market share in June, both down from May when it grossed $41 million and held a 42% market share. Meanwhile, Rivers-Philadelphia grossed $23.2 million and held a 27% share in June, down from $26.9 million and 27.5% in May, and Valley Forge had $15 million in revenue, down from $16.3 million in May. Valley Forge increased its market share to 17.5%, up from 16.5%.
It was a mixed bag for Pennsylvania’s seven smaller operators, with three watching their revenue and market share increase and four seeing the opposite.
Mohegan increased its revenue to $2.1 million and its market share to 2.5% in June, up from $1.9 million and 2% in May. Wind Creek and Live! Philadelphia also grew their revenue to $1.3 million and $749k, up from $1.2 million and $648k, respectively, while their market shares respectively increased to 1.4% and 0.9%, up from 1.2% and 0.7% the month prior.
But revenue fell for Parx Casino, Mount Airy, Presque Isle and Caesars. Parx had $3.6 million in revenue with a 4.1% market share in June, down from $3.9 million and 4% in May, while Mount Airy had $3.8 million and 4.4%, down from $4 million and a 4.1% share. At Presque Isle, revenue and market share were $490k and 0.6% in June compared with $813k and 0.8% in May.
While Caesars grossed $1.7 million in June, down from $1.8 million in May, its revenue kept pace enough to tick its market share to 2%, up from 1.8% in May.
Sports Betting Bounces Back
Sports betting in Pennsylvania rebounded to $37.6 million, up from $32.2 million. Valley Forge continued to dominate the space with $52.4 million in revenue. Despite gains by other operators, it held a commanding 52.5% of the market in June. It fell just short of besting its best month for sports revenue, January 2021, when it grossed $20.6 million.
Meadows came in a distant second with $6.4 million in revenue and a 17% market share in June, up from $5 million and 15.5% in May.
Revenue from online sportsbook continued to dwarf brick-and-mortar revenue. Online sports betting fetched $37.6 million in revenue and accounted for 90% of the market, while retail sportsbook grossed $4.3 million and made up the remaining 10%. By comparison, online sportsbook brought in $32.2 million in revenue with an 87% share in May, while retail was $4.7 million with a 13% share.
