The month of October was yet another great month for gaming in the Keystone State. According to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Boards’ (PGCB) latest press release, the commercial gambling sector in the state brought in a whopping $425,916,762 in October 2021. This is now the highest amount the state brought since July 2021. It also marks a massive 33 percent jump from the revenue generated during the same month last year. From this amount, a total of $173.3 million went to state coffers in form of taxes.
Different verticals performed exceptionally well pushing the state to the current heights. Here is a brief overview of that:
| Type of Gaming Revenue | Oct 2021 | Oct 2020 |
| Retail Slots Revenue | $203,344,187 | $154,725,850 |
| Retail Tables Revenue | $89,078,876 | $63,335,846 |
| I-Gaming Slot Revenue | $70,721,778 | $40,349,548 |
| I-Gaming Tables Revenue | $29,315,882 | $16,988,378 |
| Sports Wagering Revenue | $23,532,816 | $36,776,926 |
| Fantasy Contests Revenue | $3,695,341 | $3,203,005 |
| Video Gaming Terminals Revenue | $3,373,559 | $2,416,180 |
| I-Gaming Poker Revenue | $2,854,323 | $2,422,505 |
| Total Gaming Revenue | $425,916,762 | $320,218,237 |
iGaming’s Strong Performance
Online gambling has been a hit in the Pennsylvanian market. Its growth trajectory has been very impressive, to say the least. October was no different. Both online casinos and online poker rooms managed to break the previous revenue record. They accounted for a whopping $117.04 million in gross gaming revenue.
The state, of course, reaped quite a lot from this. That is because Pennsylvania generally has a high tax rate for online gambling compared to all other open gaming markets in the United States.
Sports Betting Revenue Takes A Dive
The October revenue figures for sports betting in the Keystone State were also the highest ever recorded since the launch of the sector. To begin with, a total of $776 million was wagered on sports in October. This was the highest handle ever recorded and it pushes Pennsylvania’s sports betting lifetime handles to over $10 billion. Both retail and online sportsbooks contributed to this.
The taxable sports betting revenue figure for the month was $23.53 million. That is about 36 percent lower than the October 2020 taxable revenue of $36.77 million. Now, this might be a little jarring. However, a high sports betting handle does not always translate to high revenues. Still, this is an indication that the interest in sports betting in Pennsylvania is very strong.
The demand for great betting options is only bound to get stronger and so will the revenue from the sector. With things beginning to return to normalcy after the pandemic, we should see even more sports betting action as major sporting activities make their grand return.