PA Table Game Revenue Takes A Dip In April, As Overall Earnings Fall Short of Massive March Haul

PA casinos banked $74,667,615 in table game revenue last month, a 6.19% decrease from the same time period last year. With slots included, the state’s gambling venues took in $280,846,143 total, for a 1.56% Y/Y decrease.

Two months ago, Pennsylvania casinos recorded a stunning and unexpected haul, topping $300 million for the first time in their history. While it was anyone’s guess as to whether revenue would once again rise to that high watermark in April, it seemed an unlikely figure to match.

Winners and losers

In terms of table games alone, Sands Bethlehem led the industry with $17,576,573. When taking into account last year’s earnings, though, the number doesn’t look so great. During the same timeframe in 2017 the casino raked in 20% more than it did last month.

Parx was right on Sands’ heels with $16,495,195, a figure made even brighter by the fact that it represents a 7% Y/Y gain.

SugarHouse took the third spot with $10,226,198, slight drop from what it earned in April 2017.

Harrah’s Casino isn’t usually amongst the top earners in the table game vertical, but its operation shined in April. Last month the venue banked $6,454,614, a 28% year-over-year gain, the biggest of any of the state’s 12 casinos.

Valley Forge, Mount Airy, Presque Isle and Nemacolin all experienced double-digit year-on-year decreases, with Valley Forge taking the biggest hit at -38%. Nemacolin, traditionally the lowest earning state casino, made do with its lowest monthly win in several years – a paltry $214,833.

Table games strong overall

The drop in April table game earnings comes somewhat as a surprise, considering how well the vertical has done over the past year. While slots have suffered, table game growth has been consistent month by month. In March, casinos saw a massive 11.24% growth in table game proceeds over the previous year. Comparable increases were reported in April and August of last year as well.

Even though we’ve seen two months straight of year-on-year decreases, the vertical’s recent track record makes it likely that games like blackjack and roulette will continue to grab a larger and larger slice of the overall PA gambling pie.

This doesn’t yet mean that players are completely shying away from slot machines. While that vertical has suffered a prolonged period of sliding earnings, gamblers seem to be regaining interest in slot games. In five of the last eight months, revenue has actually grown year-over-year, a welcome respite from the solid 11 months of losses it endured from October 2016 to August 2017.

Sports betting could change the game

Earlier this week, the Supreme Court struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), legislation which has essentially limited sports betting to Nevada for over 25 years. That means Pennsylvania will soon be able to legally offer sports betting to those inside the state, both at physical sports books and online.

The specifics regarding regulations and licensing still need to be worked out, but we expect PA casinos to roll out sports betting sometime later this year. Once online casinos are authorized to launch, online sports books will go live as well.

While the industry could be a boon to the state’s gambling venues, operators will need to contend with massive licensing fees and taxes. Sports betting permits will cost $10 million and operators must hand over nearly 41% of their profits in taxes.

That said, the potential is huge – maybe even bigger than online gambling. GamblingCompliance estimates that the industry could pull in nearly $400 million in annual gross gaming revenue per year.

Total April revenue

Total 2018 revenue