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Pennsylvania Online Casinos and Sportsbooks Had A Record Year
June marked the end of a record-shattering fiscal year for Pennsylvania casinos and sports betting.
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board reported that revenue for all forms of gambling in Pennsylvania reached over $5 billion for FY 2021/22. It’s the first time revenue eclipsed $5 billion for gaming in PA and it far surpassed last year’s record of $3.8 billion. The Board attributed the record high to table games and the growth of sports betting, online casinos and VGTs.
June 2022 numbers for Pennsylvania sports betting
The seasonal summer slide for Pennsylvania sportsbooks continued as handle dropped to $393.5 million in June. Revenue at PA sportsbooks for the month was $22.8 million, a 54% MoM decrease.
Figures from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board:
- Handle: $393.5 million (20% MoM decrease)
- Revenue: $22.8 million/adjusted gross revenue (taxable): $12.7 million
- Hold: 5.8% (down from 9.7% last month)
- Percent of bets placed online: 93%
- Promotional credits: $10.1 million
- June sports betting taxes: $4.3 million to the state and $255,391 to local entities.
- Top sports betting app by handle: FanDuel Sportsbook with $151.8 million
- Top sports betting app by revenue: FanDuel Sportsbook ($9.9 million)
*Full revenue breakdown below.
June 2022 numbers for online casinos and poker in PA
- Online slots revenue: $95.7 million
- Online table games revenue: $28 million
- Poker revenue: $2.6 million
*Full revenue breakdown below.
6 key takeaways from a record-breaking year for gambling in PA
1. Three years of online sports betting in PA
Online sportsbooks started launching in Pennsylvania in the summer of 2019. Three years later, there are now 14 sports betting apps. In FY 2021/2022, over $7 billion was bet on sports in Pennsylvania. Last FY, $5.6 billion was wagered.
Sportsbooks brought in about $510 million in gross revenue ($315.7 million in taxable revenue). It’s an increase from $308.8 million in taxable revenue from last FY.
Of all the bets placed in PA, about 92% were placed online. Of all online wagers, 38% were placed on the FanDuel sportsbook app which represented the largest majority of the market share in PA. FanDuel, through its partnership with Valley Forge Casino, was the far-and-away FY leader for gross revenue with $228.5 million. DraftKings sportsbook was a distant second for revenue with $88.5 million.
2. PA online casinos are golden
“iGaming is the pot of gold in the United States,” said Bobby Soper, CEO Sun Gaming & Hospitality, during the SBC Summit North America last week.
Sports betting is subject to seasonality. PA online casinos have remained golden.
PA online casinos’ monthly gross gaming revenue from March 2022 to June 2022:
- March: $142.7 million (US record)
- April: $138 million
- May: $136 million
- June: $126.3 million
In FY 2021/2022 revenue from PA online casinos broke the $1 billion mark. PA online casinos combined to produce $1.2 billion in taxable revenue, a 35% increase from last year. Penn National, whose online casino brands in PA include DraftKings, BetMGM, Barstool, PointsBet and Hollywood casinos, led the iGaming market in PA with $481.3 million in taxable revenue in FY 2021/22.
3. PA casinos broke records for table game revenue; slot play solid, too
It’s been three years since PA online casinos and sports betting apps arrived in PA. Would these new forms of gambling cannibalize traditional brick-and-mortar casinos? Signs point to “no.” Since August 2021, two mini-casinos have opened in PA and two more are planned.
Wind Creek Casino in Bethlehem led all casinos with $235.8 million in table game revenue, a 76% increase over last year. Parx Casino was next with $213.7 million. Two Philadelphia casinos located miles apart rounded out the No. 3 and No. 4 spots: Rivers Casino Philadelphia ($104.7 million) and Live! Casino Philadelphia ($99.8 million).
Slot revenue for FY 2021/2022 at PA casinos was $2.4 billion, about a 28% increase from last year.
4. State collected lots of tax dollars from gambling
New Jersey lawmakers set a tax rate of 8.5% for retail sportsbooks and 13% for online sportsbooks. Pennsylvania’s tax rate for sports betting is one of the highest in the country at a whopping 34%. During FY 2021/2022,the state collected about $114 million in taxes from sports betting.
However, that pales in comparison to what the state collected from their cut of slot and table games at brick-and-mortar casinos.
PA has a 34% state tax rate on slot machines which resulted in $819.2 million in tax dollars for the state during the fiscal year.
The state tax on banking, non-banking and electronic gaming tables in Pennsylvania is 14% for the first two years following start of table games operations at each licensed facility. After the initial two years, the tax rate drops to 12%.
The state collected $1.2 billion in taxes from table games at Pennsylvania’s 16 casinos.
Online casinos provided another source of tax dollars for the state.
- Online slots (taxed at rate of 34%): $288.1 million
- Table games (14%): $48.9 million
- Poker (14%): $4.6 million
5. Sportsbooks still in a generous mood
It’s said at conferences and quarterly earnings calls. The amount of freebies given away by sportsbooks is unsustainable. But right now, it doesn’t show signs of stopping.
In the fiscal year 2020/2021, PA sportsbooks gave away $131.8 million in promo credits. That number increased in 2021/2022 to $194.2 million. However, it wasn’t from newcomer PointsBet ($4.2 million in promo credits).
Most promo money spent in PA during FY 2021/2022
- FanDuel: $68 million
- BetMGM: $50 million
- DraftKings: $36 million
6. Caesars Sportsbook in the red
Caesars sportsbook, through its partnership with Harrah’s Casino Philadelphia, was the only online sportsbook to finish the year with gross revenue in the red (-$69,655).
The new version of the Caesars sportsbook has yet to go live in Pennsylvania. During Caesars Q1 earnings call, they said they expect all of the remaining Caesars branded apps and sportsbooks to be running on the Liberty platform by the end of the year. Liberty is the tech platform Caesars acquired as part of its purchase of William Hill.
Pennsylvania online casinos sportsbooks after three years
Lead image c/o Katie Kohler.