Pennsylvania Casino Income Drops 12%, Following National Trend

In January 2024, Pennsylvania casinos had a significant decrease in revenue on their physical floors compared to January 2023. With retail play slowing down, the Keystone State’s problems at the start of the year are similar to those of most of the country.

This week, the PGCB revealed that the retail slot machine total at the 17 land-based casinos in the state was $179.5 million, a decline of more than 11% from the previous year. $72.6 million was won by table games, a 13% decrease.

All things considered, the GGR, which came to around $252.1 million, was $33.9 million less than it was in January 2023, or over 12% less.

Sportsbook and iGaming gains from Pennsylvania’s other gambling verticals balanced the state’s land-based casinos’ losses.

With $149.5 million won from interactive tables and online slots, iGaming GGR increased by more than 12%. With bookmakers keeping roughly $70 million of the $858.1 million wager, oddsmakers made 78% more money.

Previously favored to win the Super Bowl the previous season, the Philadelphia Eagles suffered two defeats in January, including a humiliating 32-9 setback to the Tampa Bay Bucs in the NFC wild-card game. The Pittsburgh Steelers lost to the Buffalo Bills 31-17, which resulted in their early elimination from the NFL Playoffs.

$477.1 million was the total earnings from casinos, sports betting, and iGaming, plus $2.5 million from fantasy sports and $3 million from truck stop gaming machines. That is a 2.8% gain over the previous year.

Headwinds in the Economy

Pennsylvania’s gaming report for January offers further proof that players nationwide are cutting down on their in-person wagering. In addition to Pennsylvania, the income from live casinos in New York, Michigan, Louisiana, Mississippi, Indiana, and Maryland decreased in January compared to 2023.

The revenue from truck stop video gambling terminals fell by 9% to $3 million, while the revenue from fantasy sports decreased by more than 7%.

Even while sports betting and iGaming helped to offset the losses in other places, the January statistics show that players aren’t putting as much money on the line at traditional casinos. There might be many causes for this, such as persistent inflation, the removal of government stimulus, and a tighter labor market.

In 2024, the economic rise is probably going to slow down as the impacts of monetary policy become more widespread and the diminished tailwinds of post-pandemic. According to JP Morgan’s 2024 Economic Outlook report, real GDP growth is predicted to “soft land,” or hover between a modest increase and contraction, for most of the next year. We predict that real GDP growth in 2024 will be below the trend at 0.7%, after a 2.8% rise in 2023.

2024 may be the first year of declining income for land-based casinos since the country’s recovery from the COVID-19 epidemic, after three years of US record growth.

State Penalties

The PGCB stated that it has fined gaming license holders $212,500 for breaking rules.

For enabling the creation of fictitious internet accounts for sports betting and iGaming, Penn was hit with a fine of $97,500. Additionally, Penn’s Hollywood Casino York was fined $50,000 for permitting minors to enter the gaming area.

For failing to maintain the required minimum staffing levels and for not reporting a theft that happened on the casino grounds to the PGCB, Rivers Philadelphia was fined $65K.

Three other individuals were also prohibited by the authorities for leaving unsupervised youngsters in their cars outside of casinos.