September marked the continuation of four distinct trends in the market for real money online poker in PA — with one trend for each of its four operators, data from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) show.
For Borgata Poker PA and BetMGM Poker PA, September capped three consecutive months of increasing revenue — with the former grossing a record $120k and the latter bringing in a near-record $343k, just missing the record $346k it made in August 2021 by a mere $2,869.
But for WSOP PA, September was the second consecutive month where revenue declined. The state’s newest online poker operator had its worst month for revenue since July 2021 — the month it launched — but it should be noted that was an incomplete month.
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And for PokerStars PA, September was another month for the longtime solo operator in the state to continue to dominate its rivals. Still, revenue failed to break the $2 million threshold for the eighth consecutive month.
Overall, the market was down nearly 3% month-over-month, hitting $2.7 million in September — August revenue was just $80k higher. Gains by BetMGM and Borgata weren’t enough to offset losses by WSOP and PokerStars, and the market failed to clear $3 million for the sixth consecutive month.
Borgata, BetMGM Trending Up
Revenue at Borgata, on the Rivers-Philadelphia license, was up 8.4% from August ($110k). Borgata’s market share also hit a record 4.5% in September and appears to have come at the expense of WSOP. The operator’s previous record high was set in August 2021 ($117k), four months after its launch in April 2021.
Borgata’s revenue was up about 27% year-over-year ($94k), according to the PGCB.
BetMGM — which also launched in April 2021 and is on the Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course license — was up 13% month-over-month ($303k) and grabbed about 13% of the market. Year-over-year revenue was also up about 27% ($271k), similar to Borgata.
Although BetMGM’s market share didn’t set a record, it was its highest share since a record 13.5% in June 2021. Like Borgata, BetMGM clawed market share from WSOP.
PokerStars Flat, WSOP Continues to Slide
WSOP grossed $563k in September, down 11.4% month-over-month ($636k) and down 6.7% year-over-year ($603k).But WSOP, on the Harrah’s Philadelphia license, was still by far the state’s second-largest online poker operator and is in no immediate danger of being overtaken by its much smaller rivals, BetMGM and Borgata.
Still, revenue has been trending downward at WSOP since March 2022, when the operator peaked at $919k. Revenue is down 38.7% since then. WSOP’s market share was also down to 21.2% in September, its lowest share since December 2021 (20.9%).
PokerStars, on the Mount Airy Casino Resort license, remained atop the vertical with $1.6 million in revenue in September, down about 3% from August ($1.7 million) and down 16.5% year-over-year ($2 million).
The PGCB reported that PokerStars’ market share was 61.4% in September, continuing a trend since August 2021, where its market share has ranged from the upper-50s to the mid-60s.
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Numbers Show PA Needs MSIGA
The fact that the market continued to labor under the $3 million mark illustrates the need for Pennsylvania to join the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA), a multi-state compact for online poker and some casino gaming.
Pennsylvania is rumored to be interested in joining the compact. Still, the administration of Democratic Governor Tom Wolf hasn’t commented on possibly joining, other than to say Wolf is considering the move.
Wolf is term-limited and will leave office in January 2023. It’s unclear if either of the two leading candidates running to replace him — Democrat Josh Shapiro and Republican Doug Mastriano — support having Pennsylvania join Delaware, Michigan, Nevada, and New Jersey in MSIGA.
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