Pennsylvania Reaches Record High of $574.5 Million in Revenue for March 2025
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Pennsylvania has one of the most established and liberal laws on gambling in the US. In March, it recorded its highest revenues from the sector. We break down the amounts and gambling in the state in the article below.
The state of Pennsylvania has reached a new high for gambling revenue. In the month of March, it managed to reach $574.5 million. This was across all its combined sectors. It beats the previous high of $554.6 million that was set in March 2024. This was in stark contrast to the 4.3% decline year on year the state saw in February.
Total Gambling Revenue in March
According to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, most of this increase has come from the online sector. Its overall figure was $238.2 million in the month. This is 3.6% bigger than the $191 million accrued in March 2024 and shows an increase of 24.7% year on year. It was also a 20.4% increase from February. However, the biggest amount was in December last year, when iGaming brought in $223.6 million.
Online slots had a huge leap forward, bringing in $179.5 million. This was a 32.5% rise from the year before. The income from table games also increased, moving to $56.2 million in revenue.
Income from poker was also up to $2.6 million. This may have been due to many people signing up as Pennsylvania joins a multi-liquidity pool for the game, which has just begun. This will make them the sixth member of a Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement. This means that players can log on and begin playing against those in other states.
The agreement aims to open up the pool of players. It is believed there are currently 150,000 in the state, who largely have to play online amongst themselves with few fresh faces. Now, they will be able to play against people from Nevada, New Jersey, and Michigan. It is also believed that West Virginia and Delaware will soon be added to this.
The Pennsylvania Gambling Retail Sector
However, it was not just the online sector that swelled the coffers. The Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course also had a bumper month. This saw it make $107.2 million. Other physical casinos like Valley Forge Casino Resort made $86.2 million. However, this did have a decrease of 2% from the same month last year, compared to the former’s 21.5% boost. In Philadelphia, Rivers Casino made $38.6 million.
Overall, retail gaming fell 2.4% compared with the same time last year. Video game terminal revenue, also classed as VGT, had seen a decline. Around $3.7 million was bet on this, a drop of 0.6%.
Sports Betting Revenue
Oddly, it was sports betting that saw the biggest losses. This is usually accountable to a lack of major events. However, this is the month of March Madness, when betting usually increases. Around $842.9m was placed in sports bets during March, an increase of 5.26% from the same time last year. However, only $27m of it was generated in revenue by the state’s sports betting companies, a drastic fall of 40.7%.
Of the operators in the state, FanDuel and Valley Forge Casino Resort were the top operators. They managed to rake in $9.4 million in revenue. Second to this were DraftKings and Hollywood Casino at the Meadows, generating $8.8 million. A total of $78.2 million was created by BetMGM and partner Hollywood Casino Morgantown.
Gambling in Pennsylvania
The state has long had a very liberal attitude to gambling. It is behind only Nevada and the glittering signs of Las Vegas in US revenue. It has a healthy community of physical brick-and-mortar casinos and bookmakers, and online gambling establishments. Anyone visiting the state will find a great selection of places to gamble, from casinos to sports trucks.
Horse racing was one of the first forms of gambling to be legalized in the state. With the Race Horse Industry Reform Act of 1959, people could place bets on tracks. There are also a few off-site places where you can watch races on television screens and place a bet. This is why many of the sportsbook makers and casinos you find online are paired with physical establishments, which may also include casinos.
It was one of the first states to create an online gambling act, back in 2017. It remains one of the few states in the US where you can legally use online casino services.
There are a host of great operators in the state, known across the US and the world. Many of them even provide a welcome bonus to new players, which has helped grow the industry. At this website, you can see what is on offer and use the handy guide to see what else they provide. Ranked by everything from customer service to payment methods, it makes it easy to find the right online casino for Pennsylvania residents.
Monitoring Gambling in Pennsylvania
The state also has a long history of amending and reinforcing the rules on gambling. This has given it one of the most solid foundations on which to improve and protect its citizens from problem gambling.
A recent move that highlights this was the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board’s decision to place 17 individuals on an involuntary list that excludes them from gambling. This includes physical casinos and venues, online betting websites, and VGT machines.
There are now 1,379 individuals on this list in total, each there for various reasons that relate to the impact of gambling. Four individuals were placed on the list for unrelated incidents that involved leaving minors unattended while going to gamble.
Others were placed on the list for various crimes, both in this state and in other. Four of these were members of a dice sliding team from Texas. They had traveled around and managed to cheat $50,000 from the Hollywood Casino Morgantown before being noticed. This is a technique in which a player attempts to slide the dice down a table instead of rolling them. This increases the chance of getting the desired outcome and is an illegal practice.
It seems that gambling in the state is on the increase. Pennsylvania has had some very imaginative ways to implement gambling while keeping tight control of the law. It is a perfect example of how states can claim revenue from gambling while protecting their citizens.