Press Releases
PlayPennsylvania.com: Sports betting expectedly slows in April
Sports betting in Pennsylvania slowed to its lowest level since September 2020, an expected drop with a sports calendar absent the NFL or a major betting holiday such as the NCAA Tournament, according to PlayPennsylvania, which analyzes and researches the state’s regulated online gaming and sports betting market. Meanwhile, online casinos and poker continued their yearlong surge.
“Sports betting is following normal seasonal patterns seen in almost every legal jurisdiction, so it might be until September that the state’s sportsbooks begin to challenge the state record books again,” said Dustin Gouker, analyst for PlayPennsylvania.com. “With the Olympics and the NBA Playoffs later than usual this year, this will still be a summer that is better than a typical year. And that could be especially so if Sixers make a deep run into July.”
Pennsylvania’s online and retail sportsbooks accepted $479.4 million in wagers in April, according to official data released Tuesday, snapping a streak of four consecutive months above $500 million in wagers. April’s volume was down 14.4% from $560.3 million in March and the lowest since sportsbooks generated $462.8 million in September. Still, handle was up dramatically over the $46 million in bets taken in April 2020, the first full month sportsbooks were affected by pandemic-related shutdowns and the statistical low.
Sportsbooks won $36 million in gross gaming revenue of April’s wagering, up 1,025.1% from $3.2 million in April 2020 though down 13.9% from $41 million in March. April’s receipts produced $26.3 million in taxable revenue, yielding $8.9 million in state taxes and $525,930 in local share assessment.
Local interest in the playoff runs of the Philadelphia 76ers and Pittsburgh Penguins, coupled with the start of the Philadelphia Phillies and Pittsburgh Pirates seasons, actually helped shallow the seasonal lull for Pennsylvania. Colorado (-18%), Indiana (-25.4%), Iowa (-26.7%), and Michigan (-30.5%) all experienced more dramatic month-over-month declines in April, while New Jersey (-13%) and Tennessee (-13.6%) were slightly better.
“Local teams performing well, such as the Sixers and Penguins, are always a powerful incentive for bettors in any state,” said Valerie Cross, analyst for PlayPennsylvania.com. “In the case of Pennsylvania, it was a key difference between meeting expectations and falling short in April.”
Online sports betting accounted for $439.1 million of April’s handle, or 91.6%, down from 91.8% in March. FanDuel/Valley Forge led online operators again with $167.6 million in online wagering, down from $202.8 million in March. Those bets led to $13.75 million in gross revenue, up slightly from $13.72 million in March, and $11.1 million in taxable revenue. DraftKings/The Meadows was a distant second with $105.7 million in bets, down from $116.6 million in February. That action created $6.4 million in gross revenue, down from $7.7 million in March, and $5.4 million in taxable revenue.
Handle from the Barstool-branded Penn National/Hollywood Casino app fell to $57.2 million in April, down from $65.2 million in March and the third consecutive monthly decline. Those bets yielded $2.6 million in gross revenue, down from $6.2 million in March.
The online leaders were followed by:
BetMGM/Hollywood Morgantown ($33 million handle, down from $37.4 million; $2.5 million in gross revenue, down from $3.1 million)
BetRivers/Rivers-Pittsburgh ($18.8 million handle, down from $24.8 million; $1.8 million revenue, down from $2.3 million)
Fox Bet/Mount Airy ($15.2 million handle, down from $17.5 million; $1.1 million revenue, down from $1.3 million)
Parx Casino ($14.2 million handle, down from $18.7 million; $1.7 million revenue, up from $1.4 million)
PlaySugarHouse/Rivers-Philadelphia ($13.4 million handle, down from $17.2 million; $995,423 in revenue, down from $1.1 million)
Unibet/Mohegan Sun Pocono ($7.2 million handle, down from $10.2 million; $436,595 revenue, down from $620,357)
Betfred/Wind Creek ($2.7 million handle, up from $2.2 million; $49,074 revenue, down from $152,563)
Caesars/Harrah’s ($2.1 million handle, down from $1.7 million; -$75,375 revenue, down from $144,858)
TwinSpires/Presque Isle ($2.1 million handle, down from $1.4 million; $33,622 revenue, down from $436,828)
Meanwhile, as restrictions on brick-and-mortar casinos loosened, including the return of drink service on April 4, retail sportsbooks generated $40.3 million in handle in April. That was down from $45.9 million in March. April’s action produced $4.8 million in gross revenue, while Rivers-Philadelphia topped the retail market with $7.7 million in bets, just ahead of Parx Casino’s $5.3 million.
The entirety of the state’s gross gaming revenue — including online and retail sports betting and online and retail casinos — reached $404.1 million in April, the second consecutive month of total gaming revenue surpassed $400 million.
“Retail betting, whether casino games or sports betting, continues to inch toward normal, while the gains in online revenues made over the last year continue to hold,” Cross said. “That has created an overall gaming market that easily surpasses pre-pandemic level, even if retail betting is not quite where it was.”
Online casinos and poker
With $105.5 million in gross revenue and $92.7 million in taxable revenue in April, Pennsylvania’s online and retail sports showed more dramatic year-over-year growth. Taxable was up 115.2% from $43.1 million in April 2020 even as it fell short of the record $97.7 million set in March.
Online casino wagering hit $3.2 billion in April, up 128.6% from $1.4 billion in April 2020. And with new operators coming online, including BetMGM/Hollywood Casino earlier this year and late-April’s online launch of Borgata/Rivers Philadelphia, that growth shows few signs of stopping.
“Online casinos continue to thrive, even as retail casinos operate under few restraints and competition among online operators heats up,” Cross said. “New operators joining the mix shows there is still a belief that the online casino market in Pennsylvania has not yet reached its peak.”
Other highlights from April:
April’s revenue produced $25.5 million in state taxes and another $13.1 million in local share assessments and county grants.
Online casino and poker rooms generated $3.1 million per day in taxable revenue over the 30 days of April, down from the record of $3.2 million per day set in March.
Penn National, which includes the DraftKings, BetMGM, and Hollywood casinos, topped the market with $36 million in revenue on $1.2 billion in wagers. Rivers-Philadelphia, which includes PlaySugarHouse and BetRivers casinos, was second with $26.6 million in revenue on $846.7 million in wagers.
Revenue at Mount Airy/PokerStars, which was the lone online poker operator in the state, hit $2.3 million. While newly launched online poker rooms BetMGM, under the Hollywood Casino Grantville license, and Borgata, under the Rivers Philadelphia license, combined to generate $27,071 in the two days each operated in April.
For more information on the revenue generated by Pennsylvania, visit www.playpennsylvania.com/revenue.
Amidst an evolving economic landscape, gaming executives report a positive outlook on future industry business conditions while remaining satisfied with the current business environment, according to the American Gaming Association’s (AGA) Gaming Industry Outlook.
Nearly all gaming executives surveyed characterized the current business environment as good (44%) or satisfactory (50%), mirroring similar sentiment from Q3 2023. Meanwhile, executives are more optimistic about future conditions, with 32 percent of CEOs expecting business conditions to improve over the next six months, up from 20 percent in Q3 2023.
“Gaming’s record-setting growth over the last three years has set a new standard for industry success,” said AGA President and CEO Bill Miller. “However, as we enter a period of market normalization, continued investment and innovation in offering world-class, responsible entertainment experiences will be required to maintain industry momentum.”
Gaming Executive Panel
Gaming executives have become more positive in their views that overall balance sheet health will improve over the next 6 months (42% net positive), but they expect the pace of revenue growth (13% net negative) and new hiring (22% net negative) to slow. These expectations for decelerating growth have influenced expectations for increases in capital investment and gaming units in operation, with smaller net positive sentiments than before.
- In contrast to past Outlooks, gaming equipment suppliers are slightly pessimistic about the sale of gaming units for replacement use and new or expansion use (both 13% net negative). However, they remain optimistic about the pace of capital investment (38% net positive).
- Half of operator CEOs expect capital investments in hotels over the next year to be higher than normal, and compared to last fall, more also expect higher than normal levels of capital investment in meetings and conventions and table games (28%). Meanwhile, 44 percent of CEOs expect increases in food and beverage investment, down from 67 percent in Q3 2023.
These expectations are also informed by evolving macroeconomic challenges. Executives report that inflationary or interest rate concerns continue to be a major factor limiting operations (28%), but these have been overtaken by geo-political risk (34%) and uncertainty of the economic environment (34%) as the biggest limiting factors in the most recent Gaming Executive Panel.
Current Conditions Index
The Current Conditions Index of 102.8 for Q1 indicates solid annualized real economic growth in the industry of 2.8%. This includes gaming revenue, employment and employee wages and salaries. Notably, the Current Conditions Index shows gaming expanding faster than the overall U.S. economy which last week reported 1.6 percent GDP growth in Q1 2024.
Future Conditions Index
The Future Conditions Index stands at 102.2, indicating annualized industry economic activity, after controlling for underlying inflation, is expected to moderately increase over the next six months. This outlook reflects Oxford Economics’ forecast that the U.S. economy will slow during 2024 but avoid recession. Despite a projected economic slowdown, consumer survey results continue to indicate that more than one-third of adults expect to visit a casino during the next 12 months, consistent with prior quarter results.
About the Outlook
The AGA Gaming Industry Outlook is prepared biannually by Oxford Economics. It provides a timely measure of recent industry growth and future expectations. The Q1 2024 survey was conducted between March 28 – April 10, 2024. A total of 32 executives responded, including executives at the major international and domestic gaming companies, tribal gaming operators, single-unit casino operators, major gaming equipment suppliers, and major iGaming and/or sports betting operators.
PHOENIX – Bettors in Arizona wagered approximately $637.5 million on sports in February of 2024, according to a new report by the Arizona Department of Gaming. This represents an approximate 4.6% increase when compared to February of 2023.
The state collected approximately $2.8 million in privilege fees in the month. You can view the full February report on the ADG website: LINK.
Follows multi-state eInstant record jackpot award of $5.8 million
Instant Win Gaming (IWG), a leading supplier of eInstant games to NASPL and WLA-member lotteries, congratulates the New Hampshire Lottery on joining the Company’s multi-state eInstant progressive, Mega Money Jackpots.
The New Hampshire Lottery launched Jackpot Spectacular, its first game in the Mega Money Jackpots linked progressive pool, for players in the Granite State on April 24th. New Hampshire joins Pennsylvania and Virginia in offering Mega Money Jackpots linked games.
Additionally, IWG congratulates the Virginia Lottery along with its Mega Money Jackpots player who won a record-setting $5.8 million prize. The win sets another new U.S. iLottery record for the largest eInstant prize.
Mega Money Jackpots launched in July 2023, and over the past nine months the game has created eight millionaires. Since launch, more than 240 players across the participating lotteries have won Mega and Minor jackpots totaling more than $20 million.
The amount and frequency of these prizes showcases the excitement of IWG’s Mega Money Jackpots. To achieve this, select eInstants from participating lotteries each contribute a small percentage of the sales to fund the two progressive prize tiers, with IWG administering the settlement of jackpot prize monies on a turnkey basis.
The multi-state eInstant progressive jackpot is powered by IWG’s InstantJackpots. Since all functionality is contained within IWG’s InstantRGS (remote game server), no development support is required by a lottery’s iLottery platform provider. Additionally, new lotteries can join the system regardless of their iLottery platform provider.
Charlie McIntyre, Executive Director at New Hampshire Lottery, said: “Our industry has a proud track record of collaborating across state lotteries. We’re excited to join Mega Money Jackpots and to bring the excitement of it outsized prizes to our players. We know that our contribution will further enhance the game for everyone involved, and we look forward to creating some new millionaires here in New Hampshire.”
Rhydian Fisher, CEO at IWG, said: “Kudos to the team at New Hampshire Lottery. By joining Mega Money Jackpots, collectively we can award even more million dollar prizes to lottery players. Not only is the game frequently creating new millionaires, but it has also been a leading catalyst for new player signups. Fingers crossed that some new millionaires will be created in New Hampshire very soon.”
-
Latest News7 days agoSCCG Announces Strategic Partnership with Comm100 to Enhance Player Engagement with Leading Customer Support Solutions
-
Industry News5 days agoThe International Association of Gaming Advisors (IAGA) Announces 2024 International Gaming Summit in Washington, D.C.
-
Cryptocurrency6 days agoBitLine Enhances Onboarding Experience in Collaboration with Jumio: Simplified KYC for Casino Patrons
-
Industry News5 days agoMarker Trax Appoints John Henderson as Senior Vice President of Operations
-
Latest News5 days agoJackpot Digital Completes Installation at Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino in California
-
eSports5 days agoNorth Star Network Acquires Um Dois Esportes
-
Press Releases7 days agoYouGov unveils US bettor research report, which highlights that 43% of sports bettors use three or more sportsbook apps
-
Latest News7 days agoInternet Vikings and Casinogate Partner in Latin America