It’s not much of an increase, but it’s an increase nonetheless. And after a down fiscal year, Pennsylvania will certainly take any kind of upward trend in slot machine gross revenue.
According to figures released by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) on Tuesday, slots in the Keystone State generated $2,352,320,936 in gross revenue during the 2017-18 fiscal year. That reflects a bump of just more than $16 million from 2016-17.
While it is an increase of only 0.7 percent, all that matters is that slots are back on the rise.
Bouncing back
Since the opening of Pennsylvania’s first casino in November 2006, only three other time periods were more substantial than the 2017-18 fiscal year.
- 2011-12: $2.48 billion
- 2012-13: $2.43 billion
- 2015-16: $2.39 billion
- 2017-18: $2.35 billion
The slight uptick from 2016-17, which generated just under $2.34 billion, coincides with an equally small uptick in the total number of slot machines in the state. The 25,737 slots in Pennsylvania is up from 25,685 the previous year.
Tax revenue from slots equaled $1.19 billion, which is actually down from the 2016-17 total of $1.24 billion and is the lowest tax revenue from slots since 2009-10.
Since 2006, casinos have generated $24.8 billion in slot revenue. The state has collected $13.3 billion from slot tax revenue. Most of that tax revenue is used for property tax reduction to Pennsylvania homeowners.
Parx leads the pack
No property in Pennsylvania performed better in slots than Parx Casino, which totaled more than $400 million over the past fiscal year for an uptick of 3.66 percent.
In June alone, Parx posted just under $35 million – 10.37 percent more than June 2017 and more than $10 million more than second-place Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem.
For 2017-18, Sands pulled in $302 million, which is down slightly (0.69 percent) from the 2016-17 fiscal year, while Rivers Casino reported $274 million for a 3.35 percent increase. Rivers Casino, with $22.9 milion, was the only other PA property to exceed $20 million from slot revenue in June.
Below is the listing of Pennsylvania casinos with their 2017-18 fiscal year gross revenue, percentage change from 2016-17, and June gross revenue.
The PGCB, according to its release, will post total gaming revenue when it reports the same figures for June later this month.
