Pennsylvania’s online gaming revenue almost doubled to $43.1m in April, and with all casinos closed during the month, the vertical accounted for 93.4% of the state’s gambling revenue for the month.
Total revenue declined sharply to $46.1m, representing an 83.8% year-on-year decline, with land-based slot and table games revenue wiped out by the shut-down from March 17. Last year slots in bricks-and-mortar venues contributed $200.4m to the state total, with a further $77.4m coming from table games.
Online gaming – which only launched in July 2019 – accounted for $43.1m of the total. This represented a 77.5% increase on March’s igaming revenue of $24.3m.
For April 2020, igaming growth was driven by online slots, for which revenue more than doubled to $27.3m, a 121.2% month-over-month increase. Table games also reported growth, albeit more modestly, with revenue up 19.4% at $10.5m.
Poker, which is only offered by The Stars Group – via its partnership with Mount Airy Casino – accounted for a further $5.3m, up 67.7%.
Rush Street’s Rivers Casino Philadelphia led the market for April, with revenue up 102.8% to $13.7m. It was followed by Mount Airy, for which more than half of its $10.4m total came from online poker.
Valley Forge, and its partner FanDuel, saw online casino revenue rise 59.7% to $7.9m, while Penn National’s Hollywood Casino’s 67.0% month-over-month growth took it above Parx into fourth place.
The month also included the first contribution from DraftKings’ and Caesars Entertainment’s online casino products. The Caesars offering, which went live on 23 April under the Harrah’s Philadelphia license, generated $231,464.
DraftKings’ offering began its test launch under Penn National’s license from April 29, before its official roll-out early in May. For those two days of live testing, it generated revenue of $29,416.
Turning to sports betting, amounts wagered were down 65.0% to $46.0m, with the most popular betting events suspended, and all land-based venues unable to accept wagers. From this total, operators held $2.9m in revenue, down 58.1% from March.
Valley Forge and FanDuel led the market with revenue of $1.3m, though this represented a 53.5% drop from the prior month. Meadows Racetrack and Casino, which is allied with DraftKings, saw revenue fall to $706,589, though it remained in second place, ahead of Rivers Casino Philadelphia, with revenue of $308,307.
Last month’s third-placed sportsbook licensee Parx Casino fell behind both Rivers Casino and Mount Airy, through which Stars is operating the Fox Bet brand. Mount Airy actually grew sportsbook revenue month-over-month, with its $229,469 total representing a 32.4% improvement on March’s $173,358.
The Covid-19 enforced lockdown meant that the only other vertical to generate revenue in April was fantasy sports, which in turn was hit hard by the sporting suspensions. Total revenue was down 91.0% year-on-year, or 79.6% compared to March 2020, of which DraftKings accounted for $123,748, and FanDuel $43,506. No other licensed operators posted any revenue for the month.
Total tax paid across all products and verticals for the month amounted to $18.3m.
While Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf began to ease the lockdown in some counties from May 15, with others to follow from May 22, social distancing measures remain in place in other areas including the Philadelphia region.