Pennsylvania gambling market sees major growth

Pennsylvania’s gambling market is one of the more underrated markets in the country. For years, land-based Keystone State casinos have been leeching off players from nearby Atlantic City, forcing New Jersey operators to rely more on online gambling and sports betting to make ends meet.
These days, Pennsylvania casinos are still raking in big bucks, but with the addition of regulated sports betting and online gambling, their profits are going through the roof. For the month of November 2019, Pennsylvania operators brought in a little more than $292 million in revenue. That number represents a 13.2 percent leap over November 2018.
Combined, Pennsylvania’s still new sports betting operations took in $316.5 million in wagers for the month of November. That’s up 31 percent over October. Interestingly enough, a full 56 percent of that action came from regulated online sportsbooks.
As it is most months, a good chunk of Pennsylvania’s gambling success was centered on the Valley Forge Casino Resort, which also hosts a FanDuel branded sportsbook and a very robust online operation. This single operator took in a full 56 percent of all the online action in the state with $149.7 million in wagers.
Oddly enough, online poker is doing much better in Pennsylvania than it is in nearby New Jersey, but that still doesn’t mean it’s bringing in big numbers. The Stars Group PokerStars site brought in just $2 million for the month. By way of comparison, online slots brought in $5.1 million during that same period.
It’s worth noting that there’s still plenty of novelty in regulated online gambling in Pennsylvania and that these numbers may settle down a bit as time goes on. Regardless, online gambling is a legitimate hit in a state whose gambling market was already quite healthy.