The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Boards (PGCB) just recently wrapped up its fiscal year at the end of June during which they reported that slot machine revenues at the state’s 12 operating casinos were up $16 million throughout the 2017/2018 fiscal year – this compared to the previous fiscal year is a 0.7 percent increase and marks the eighth consecutive year with slot machine revenue over $2.3 billion.
According to the board’s press release, slot machine revenue was up in 7 of 12 months during the just-concluded fiscal year, inclusive of June 2018 when slot machine revenues increased by 4.9 percent from $188.5 million in 2017 to $197.7 million in 2017.
Big Win for the State
Pennsylvania boasts of one of the highest tax rates on slot revenue in the United States – a whopping 54 percent – and owing to this, the state certainly turned out to be the biggest beneficiary of the thriving slots machine industry. As reported by the PGCB, the Keystone State accrued close to $1.2 billion from slot machine revenue in the 2017/2018 fiscal year.
Since November 2006, when the first gambling facility opened in the Commonwealth, the Pennsylvania slots industry has generated $24.8 billion in revenues and $13.3 billion in taxes. According to the PGCB, Pennsylvania’s 12 operating casinos generate about $1.4 billion in tax revenue every year. This could increase with the number of slot machines in operation throughout the state – the number has already jumped from 25,685 in 2017 to 25,737 in 2018. This might be a fairly small number but it could certainly contribute to significant revenue bumps.
Parx Casino Still Leads
As always, Parx Casino yet again blazed the trail for the other casinos as far as slot machine revenue is concerned. During the 2017/2018 fiscal year, Parx Casino generated a whopping $400,733,138 in slot machine revenue. This not only represented a 3.66 percent increase in the revenue it generated in the 2016/2017 fiscal year but was also $100 million higher than what any of the remaining 12 Pennsylvania casinos generated within the same period – in fact, no other casino was able to raise more than $300 million in slot machine revenue.
Valley Forge Surges Ahead
Even though it fell so much behind Parx Casino in terms of slot machine revenue, Valley Forge Casino Resorts proved to be no slouch by posting the highest increase in slots revenue. Valley Forge generated $86,686,698 in slot revenue in the 2017/2018 fiscal year – an impressive 8.05 percent increase from the amount it generated in the 2016/2017 fiscal year.
This rise in revenue, however, came as no surprise especially after the casino operator paid $1 million to the state in late 2017 in order to do away with the $10 resort fee for customers. This move has since resulted in increased traffic and a pretty significant revenue bump for the Philadelphia area casino