Pennsylvania Reveals February Sports Betting Revenue

Although the number of casino sportsbooks increased in Pennsylvania during the month of February, it looks like the handle and revenue numbers haven’t increased in the past month at all.

On Monday, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) revealed the results from the six licensed sportsbooks in the state…

…and they most definitely showed a disappointing decline.

The Official Report

During the month of February, sportsbooks handled wagers worth of $31.5 million, while the betting revenue from all casinos combined came up to only $1.95 million.

Those numbers are certainly below the $32 million handle and $2.6 million revenue that was recorded back in January and are also worse than numbers recorded in December as well.

This is quite shocking, since in January only three sportsbooks were open, and now there are six of them in the state of Pennsylvania.

Also, although February was the month when the 2019 Super Bowl took place, the figures should have been much higher…

…because New Jersey, for example, reported a handle of $35 million during February.

But, generally speaking, sportsbooks in the whole of the US did record very disappointing numbers, which partially explains why Pennsylvania had such bad results.

The Pennsylvania Casinos

Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh had most definitely the best results among the six sportsbooks in the state. It reported a handle of $8.1 million and revenue of $627.521.

After Rivers, Penn National Gaming’s Hollywood Casino came in second. This property reported a revenue of just $13.914…

…which is an astonishing decline comparing to their January revenue of $285.000. Also, their hand was down more than $1 million and came down to $3.74 million.

Although online and mobile wagering is now legal in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania, PGCB still hasn’t authorized any of the state casinos to start offering digital wagering on sports events.

A Bright-looking Future

Everyone’s hoping that monthly reports in Pennsylvania will be completely different in the future thanks to digital sports betting. For example, in New Jersey, thanks to online and mobile betting, land-based betting ed for less than one-fifth of a total monthly handle.

Looking at the results from other gaming verticals in Pennsylvania casinos, a market-wide gaming revenue came in just below $264 million during the month of February, which is a tiny rise of 0.4% comparing to the results from the same month last year.

Also, revenue from slot games improved 0.5% and came up to nearly $190 million…

…while the revenue from table games rose 0.33% to a total of $74 million.

PA’s licensed daily sports operators reported revenue of $1.63 million in the month of February, and it was split between DraftKings ($906.451) and FanDuel ($622,815).

NetEnt Obtains Pennsylvania License

Just recently, NetEnt obtained an Interactive Gaming Manufacturer Conditional License by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, which means that the company finally capitalizes on the state’s legislature from October 2017 that recognizes online casino gambling as a legal activity.

“We are very pleased to be in the first round of approved vendors to conduct online gaming in Pennsylvania. This fits well with our strategy to be live with our products at the first day of market opening,” Managing Director of NetEnt Americas LLC, Erik Nyman, said.

Source:

“Sports bettors take Pennsylvania casinos to the cleaners”, Peter Amsel, calvinayre.com, March 18, 2019.