Press Releases
PlayPennsylvania.com: Sportsbooks gain in March, online casinos shatter records
Pennsylvania’s retail and online sportsbooks took in more than $560 million in wagers, as March Madness helped spur betting to the second-highest monthly volume in state history, according to PlayPennsylvania, which analyzes and researches the state’s regulated online gaming and sports betting market. Sports betting was just one piece of good news in March, as the Keystone State set a fresh record for online casino revenue while the state’s sportsbooks crossed $500 million in lifetime gross gaming revenue.
“March’s results show just how important the NCAA Tournament can be in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, giving a huge boost to sportsbooks at a time when football is dormant,” said Dustin Gouker, lead analyst for PlayPennsylvania.com. “With last year’s tournament canceled, sportsbooks were left a revenue hole that they could not fill. Pennsylvania itself was a bit of an unknown, since the last time the NCAA Tournament was held online sports betting had yet to launch. This really sets sportsbooks up for a strong rest of the year, especially in comparison with 2020.”
For the month, Pennsylvania’s online and retail sportsbooks collected $560.3 million in bets, according to official data released Thursday evening. That was up 326.6% from $131.3 million in March 2020, a month marred by the shutdown of major sports in the U.S., including the NCAA Tournament. The month represented a rebound from February’s $509.6 million handle, even as it fell short of the record $615.3 million handle in January.
Sportsbooks did well on March’s bets, too, producing $41 million in gross gaming revenue — up 376.7% from $8.6 million in March 2020. That yielded $29.4 million in taxable revenue, up 326.1% from $6.9 million a year ago. The revenue produced in March created $10 million in state taxes and $587,047 in local share assessment.
Pennsylvania sportsbooks have now generated $506.7 million in gross gaming revenue since launching, reaching yet another impressive lifetime milestone.
Pennsylvania is the first to report of the four largest sports betting markets. New Jersey should remain the top market, but Pennsylvania could feasibly pass Nevada for No. 2 in the U.S., or Pennsylvania could be passed by Illinois, which continues to gain ground.
“$500 million in gross gaming revenue is a threshold reached by only two other markets, Nevada and New Jersey, a sign of Pennsylvania’s increasingly mature market,” said Valerie Cross, analyst for PlayPennsylvania.com. “Regardless of where Pennsylvania finds itself in the state rankings, it is in an excellent position as online betting gains steam and retail sportsbooks find themselves with fewer pandemic-related restrictions.”
Online sports betting produced 91.8%, or $514.3 million, of March’s handle. The percentage is down from 92.2% of February’s handle. FanDuel Sportsbook/Valley Forge Casino topped the market again with $202.8 million in online wagering, up from $176.3 million in February. Those bets produced $10.4 million in taxable revenue, up from $7.3 million in February. DraftKings/The Meadows was second with $116.6 million in bets, up from $111.7 million in February, yielding $6 million in taxable revenue.
The Barstool-branded Penn National/Hollywood Casino app is still trying to gain ground, generating $63.6 million in March, easily No. 3 in the state but down from $65.6 million in February. That produced $3.3 million in revenue.
The leaders were followed by:
- BetMGM/Hollywood Morgantown ($37.4 million handle, up from $33.7 million; $1.7 million in taxable revenue, down from $2 million)
- BetRivers/Rivers-Pittsburgh ($24.8 million handle, up from $20.4 million; $1.3 million revenue, down from $1.4 million)
- Parx Casino ($18.7 million handle, up from $17.7 million; $1.2 million revenue, down from $1.6 million)
- Fox Bet/Mount Airy ($17.5 million handle, down from $18 million; $911,248 million revenue down from $1.3 million)
- PlaySugarHouse/Rivers-Philadelphia ($17.2 million handle, up from $14.6 million; $912,183 in revenue, up/down from $957,245)
- Unibet/Mohegan Sun Pocono ($10.2 million handle, up from $7.5 million; $272,627 revenue, down from $416,533)
- Betfred/Wind Creek ($2.2 million handle, down from $1.7 million; -$186,870 revenue, down from $50,386)
- Caesars/Harrah’s ($1.7 million handle, up from $1.1 million; $136,078 revenue, up from $3,541)
- TwinSpires/Presque Isle Downs ($1.4 million handle, up from $1.3 million; -$14,229 revenue, down from $5,496)
Retail sportsbooks generated $45.9 million in handle, up from $39.8 million in February. Sportsbooks won $3.4 million on February’s bets. The top retail sportsbook was Rivers-Philadelphia with $7 million in bets, edging Parx Casino’s $6.9 million.
“The Penn National-Barstool partnership has been successful, but its gains on the market leaders has stalled,” Gouker said. “FanDuel and DraftKings have built so much brand recognition and marketing might that they still hold advantages over a brand as well-known as Barstool partnering with a Pennsylvania-based company.”
Online casinos and poker
Online casinos and poker rooms hit a fresh high in March with $97.7 million in taxable revenue, shattering the record $80.4 million set in January. Online casinos generated a per day revenue record, too, producing $3.2 million in revenue per day for the 31 days in March, which was up from the previous high of $2.8 million per day over the 28 days in February.
Year-over year, revenue is up 292.4% from $24.9 million from March 2020, a month that marks the beginning of a year-long surge that continues today. Online casino wagering has grown 275% to $3.3 billion from $871.6 million in March 2020.
“The year-over-year gains in revenue are staggering,” Cross said. “The pandemic-related shutdowns of the state’s retail casinos changed bettor behavior for the foreseeable future. This is evident as online casino gaming keeps setting records, even as brick-and-mortar restrictions are eased.”
Highlights from March:
- March’s revenue yielded $22.6 million in state taxes and another $13.3 million in local share assessments and county grants.
- Penn National, which includes the DraftKings, BetMGM, and Hollywood casinos, led the market with $33.6 million in revenue on $.11 billion in wagers. Rivers-Philadelphia, which includes PlaySugarHouse and BetRivers casinos, was second with $27.1 million in revenue on $668.2 million in wagers.
- Mount Airy/PokerStars, the lone poker operator in the state, generated poker revenue of $2.4 million.
For more information on the revenue generated by Pennsylvania, visit www.playpennsylvania.com/revenue.
About the PlayUSA.com Network:
The PlayUSA.com Network is a leading source for news, analysis, and research related to the market for regulated online gaming in the United States. With a presence in over a dozen states, PlayUSA.com and its state-focused branches produce daily original reporting, publish in-depth research, and offer player advocacy tools related to the advancement of safe, licensed, and legal online gaming options for consumers. Based in Las Vegas, the PlayUSA Network is independently owned and operated, with no affiliations to any casino — commercial, tribal, online, or otherwise.
Latest News
Fanatics Betting and Gaming Partners with Continent 8 Technologies for Digital Infrastructure
Sports betting and online casino operator leverages company’s hosting and connectivity solutions across regulated United States states
Fanatics Betting and Gaming utilizes Continent 8 Technologies to deploy a trusted digital infrastructure as it continues its rapid growth across the regulated United States online sports betting and online casino market.
Fanatics Betting and Gaming uses Continent 8 Technologies’ innovative and reliable digital infrastructure solutions to deliver a seamless player experience in the United States. This includes hosting all of its in-state data centers through AWS Outposts. Continent 8 Technologies is supporting Fanatics Betting and Gaming by managing on-premises infrastructure and services in 20 states across the United States including Michigan, New York, Vermont and West Virginia, to name a few.
Continent 8 Technologies has one of the largest connected networks in the world, spanning over 100 locations across four continents including 30 United States states and counting.
The operator has also signed up for Continent 8 Technologies’ Gaming Exchange. This is a powerful, private Internet that allows Continent 8 Technologies’ customers to connect securely via a virtual private network (VPN) across its backbone network. This enables customers to share traffic at the lowest latency, securely and privately.
“We have worked with Fanatics Betting and Gaming – a top-tier United States operator – from day one of its launch, supporting it as it has grown state-by-state,” the founder and Chief Executive Officer for Continent 8 Technologies, Michael Tobin, said. “Fanatics Betting and Gaming is a high-caliber operator that understands the importance of infrastructure in delivering the top-quality player experience it is building its reputation on. Our leading digital infrastructure solutions provide the reliable connectivity operators need to deploy their online sportsbooks and casinos in regulated United States states quickly and compliantly.”
“Infrastructure is the foundation upon which we build our sports betting and casino experience,” the Vice-President of Technology for Fanatics Betting and Gaming, Bob Pascucci, said. “In Continent 8 Technologies, we have a partner with an unrivaled reputation for supporting its customers, enabling us to continue to drive growth at pace.”
Learn more about Continent 8 Technologies’ United States connectivity and infrastructure solutions at SBC Summit North America, May 7 to 9 at the Meadowlands Exposition Center, New Jersey, stand A290.
Gambling in the USA
Mohegan Digital Launches New Online Casino Experience in Pennsylvania: Play.MoheganPAcasino.com
Mohegan Digital, which is the iGaming division for Mohegan, fully launched a new online gaming experience in Pennsylvania. Play.MoheganPAcasino.com and associated mobile apps are now live and offering an advantageous sign-up bonus. Like all Mohegan Digital online gaming offerings, MoheganPAcasino.com has no shortage of thrilling slots, table games and more.
“This is an exciting moment for Mohegan Digital as we expand our very own online gaming brand to Pennsylvania, in close coordination with Mohegan Pennsylvania,” said Rich Roberts, president of Mohegan Digital. “Our growth with the MoheganSunCasino.com app in Connecticut and New Jersey continues to surpass expectations, as does our PlayFallsView app in Ontario, CA. To now have our fourth launch in the great state of Pennsylvania marks another great opportunity for Mohegan Digital!”
PA residents and visitors can now visit Play.MoheganPAcasino.com or download the MoheganPAcasino.com iPhone app on the App Store, or through Google Play for Androids users as well. Navigation to the new online casino experience is also available through MoheganPA.com.
Play.MoheganPAcasino.com offers players daily jackpots, along with more than 500 total games across Slots, Table Games and Live Dealer offerings. Some popular games at launch are Vegas Nights, BlackJack Diamond Series, Cash Machine, Wheel of Fortune PowerWedges, Cleopatra, Ultimate Fire Link, 88 Fortunes, Deal or No Deal Slingo, Live Dealer games, Baccarat and much more. By this summer, Mohegan Digital is expected to increase the total number of games to 700.
Additionally, Mohegan Pennsylvania’s popular Momentum program, which is a free to sign-up loyalty rewards program allowing members to earn perks, points, tournament invites and leveling up opportunities, will be synced in with online accounts later this spring as part of this exciting roll out of MoheganPAcasino.com. This means that whether guests are playing online or in person at the premier gaming destination in Pennsylvania (Mohegan PA), the benefits build in the same account.
“We’re dedicated to offering an unmatched online gaming platform in the fast-growing iGaming industry,” said Guy Greene VP of Marketing, Mohegan Digital. “Creating a fun, immersive and user-friendly experience, combined with reliability and great guest service are features that Mohegan Digital have become synonymous with, and we’re thrilled to bring it all to Pennsylvania.”
A rebrand of the on-site Sportsbook inside Mohegan Pennsylvania in Wilkes-Barre, PA, which is currently known as the Unibet Sportsbook, will also soon take place. Located near the entrance of Mohegan PA, this popular venue which offers plenty of prop bets, same game parlays, futures and much more, will soon be known as the Mohegan Pennsylvania Sportsbook. Guests can stay tuned to moheganPA.com for details, as this rebrand will also take place at Mohegan Pennsylvania’s off-track wagering locations in Lehigh Valley and Allentown.
GR8 Tech’s participation at the recent BIS SiGMA Americas event held in São Paulo was quite successful, highlighted by winning the ‘BEST WORKPLACE 2024’ award at the SiGMA Americas Awards and holding over 150 meetings with operators and other stakeholders. These interactions have laid a solid foundation for GR8 Tech’s strategic expansion in the region and provided the team with significant insights into the evolving Latin American iGaming market.
A Closer Look at the Brazilian Market and Wider LatAm
“Brazil is not synonymous with Latin America. Each country on the continent has its own unique characteristics,” Evgen Belousov, GR8 Tech CEO.
The most important thing to understand in the LatAm region is that it’s very diverse. There are significant cultural and operational differences that necessitate a localized approach. For example, “Brazil’s rhythm is distinct; life starts in the afternoon, and business interactions reflect this laid-back pace. To thrive here, understanding and integrating into the local lifestyle is essential.”
Belousov further discussed the Brazilian market’s competitive nature, highlighting retention strategies’ crucial role. “The churn rate is high as players frequently shift between operators lured by aggressive marketing. Hence, having robust retention mechanisms, such as real-time tools and enticing bonus mechanics, is crucial to maintaining a loyal customer base,” he added.
Yevhen Krazhan, CBDO, addressed trending compliance and market preferences. “Regulation is a hot topic, with a keen focus on product compliance. Moreover, while classic sportsbooks saturate the market, emerging interests lie in areas like fantasy sports and social gaming, which present new opportunities for differentiation and growth.”
Thomas Carvalhaes, Senior Business Development Manager for the Latin America region, provided his expertise during the panel discussion “Understanding the demands and evolution of the B2B market”, highlighting the demand for localization and intuitive technology. “In Latin America, where many markets are still learning the ropes of iGaming, the simplicity of the technology is key. Products need to be user-friendly to ensure they meet the expectations of a clientele that values straightforward and engaging gaming experiences,” Carvalhaes explained.
Future Directions and Engagements
Building on the insights and achievements from BIS SiGMA Americas, GR8 Tech is actively expanding its presence in Brazil and LatAm, establishing its reputation as a key player in the region. The company is also exploring opportunities in other global markets, with Asia as the next target at SiGMA Asia, scheduled for June 3-6 in Manila, Philippines. This upcoming event presents another fantastic opportunity for GR8 Tech to demonstrate the capabilities of its flagship GR8 Sportsbook platform and forge new partnerships in another exciting and diverse region. We invite all our partners and clients to stay tuned, following our updates at https://gr8.tech/.
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