Total gaming revenue at Pennsylvania casinos was up substantially year over year in January, fueled by a record month for internet gaming.
The state’s casinos generated $393.1 million in total revenue last month, which is a 26% boost versus the prior January, according to data from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. That shakes out to $157.5 million in total tax revenue for Pennsylvania.
Revenue from internet gaming hit a record $108.3 million, eclipsing the previous single-month record set last October at almost $102.9 million, per the control board. Compared to January 2021, internet gaming was up almost 35% from $80.4 million.
Among the top five revenue-generating casinos in the state last month were three in the Philadelphia area: Parx Casino ($51.8 million), Valley Forge Casino Resort (almost $51 million) and Rivers Casino Philadelphia ($42.2 million).
Across the board, retail slots drove the most revenue at Pennsylvania casinos with upwards of $168.4 million, an increase of about 19.7% from $140.7 million in January 2021. There were 26,158 slot machines operating in the state last month compared to 18,703 a year prior because of pandemic limitations.
Hollywood Casino at Penn National led the pack in the internet gaming category, generating $41.2 million in revenue between virtual slots, table games and poker. That represents a 49.3% increase year over year in the segment for the Grantville casino.
Following behind was Rivers Casino Philadelphia, generating $27.4 million in internet gaming revenue, or a 30.6% jump from almost $21 million in January 2021. Valley Forge Casino Resort saw nearly $20.5 million in internet gaming revenue, a 38.9% year-over-year spike from $14.7 million.
Sports wagering — a rapidly growing segment of Pennsylvania’s gaming industry — brought in just shy of $32.2 million of total revenue last month, which is actually a 5.3% dip year over year from almost $34 million last January. State tax revenue generated from sports betting was about $11.6 million.
Still, bettors haven’t lost interest in the category. Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board data shows that people wagered a total of $793.7 million on sports last month, 29% more than the January 2021 handle of roughly $615.3 million.
The healthy January gaming figures come on the heels of a record-breaking year for Pennsylvania casinos in 2021. Statewide, casinos brought in more than $4.7 billion in revenue last year, the highest single-year total in Pennsylvania history. From that, $1.93 billion in tax revenue for the state was produced.
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