The Pennsylvania casino gambling market rebounded in May.
According to figures from state gaming regulators, the casinos won $286,139,049 from slot and table game gamblers, up 2.59% over May 2018. The casinos won about $7.2 mm more than they did during the same month last year. Table games accounted for $76,559,198 of the revenue, a gain of 2.2% year-over-year. The one-armed bandits accounted for $209,579,851, up 2.74%.
In April, the casinos reported $277,807,829 in gaming win, a decline of 1.08% compared to April 2018.
The state’s sportsbook collected $2,861,852 in revenue last month. The first sportsbook opened in November, so there isn’t a year-over-year comparison.
March was a record month for the casinos. They won a combined $309,125,131 from slots and table games, a 2.86% increase over March 2018, which had the previous single-month record of $300,516,011.
Pennsylvania casinos have more than 25k slot machines and more than 1.2k tables.
Parx Casino led the way last month with $53,178,991 in gaming revenue, an increase of 2.75% year-over-year. In terms of year-over-year gains, Rivers Casino Pittsburgh and SugarHouse Casino were the runaway leaders. They both saw their respective gaming win increase by more than 12% year-over-year in May (roughly $30 mm apiece). Wind Creek Bethlehem (formerly Sands) had the worst May, with slot/table game win of $43,671,311 representing a 6.3% decrease.
SugarHouse and Rivers are both owned by Rush Street Gaming. SugarHouse will soon be rebranded as Rivers Casino Philadelphia.
The first PA online/mobile sportsbook launched late last month. The first PA online casinos are expected to kick off in mid-July. Having online casino games in the equation should dramatically grow the Keystone State commercial casino gambling market.
In New Jersey, the online casinos won a combined $179,401,071 through May, up more than 50% compared to the same period in 2018.
PA casinos are currently fighting in court with the state lottery over what the casinos say are slot-like games offered by the lottery. The casinos believe that the PA Lottery will diminish the market potential for the real-money, traditional online casino games that they have long sought to offer. PA legalized online casinos, as well as online lottery games, in late 2017.
It’s unclear which PA casino or casinos will launch online casino gambling next month. The PGCB hasn’t revealed any details, but regulators may provide more information at the regularly scheduled regulatory hearing slated for July 10 in Harrisburg.