Pennsylvania Gaming Industry Eclipses $5B in Revenue in Latest Fiscal Year

Posted on: July 19, 2022, 02:55h. 

Last updated on: July 19, 2022, 04:08h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More

Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

The Pennsylvania gaming industry has never been healthier. The record gaming play comes in spite of the worst global health crisis that the world has seen in decades.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) this week revealed that the industry it regulates generated gross revenue in excess of $5 billion in its most recent fiscal year. The state gaming regulator says gross gaming revenue (GGR) from all verticals totaled a little more than $5.04 billion during the 2021/2022 fiscal year that ran July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2022.

It was the first-time overall revenue for games regulated by the Gaming Control Board topped $5 billion during a fiscal year. In addition, the combined tax revenue from these games during the fiscal year will top $2 billion for the first time,” the PGCB said.

The $5 billion in fiscal year 2021/22 gaming revenue is exclusive of revenue generated by the Pennsylvania Lottery, which is one of the nation’s richest. The state lottery sold almost $5.3 billion worth of tickets during its 2020/21 fiscal year, with net proceeds totaling $1.3 billion. Lottery revenue numbers for 2021/22 have not yet been disclosed.

$5B New Normal

Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled legislature and Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf found common ground in 2017 when they opted to greatly expand legal gaming in the commonwealth. Republicans, unwilling to raise taxes, and Wolf, seeking to increase government revenue to fund additional spending, specifically education, turned to more gambling to bridge their differences.

It’s been five years since Wolf signed the new gaming verticals into law, and Pennsylvania’s gaming industry and the state government are reaping the benefits. Prior to the massive expansion, Pennsylvania’s gaming industry typically pulled in around $3 billion a year in gross revenue.

Frank Gamrat, executive director of the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy, a think tank working to defend the interests of taxpayers, citizens, and businesses against “an increasingly burdensome and intrusive government,” expects $5 billion to be the new norm for the state gaming industry.

“When I look at total revenues from prior to the pandemic, you hit a plateau. From 2011 to 2019, which was primarily slots and tables only, it was about $3 billion a year in total revenue. So, if we hit $5 billion in total revenue from all forms of gaming, my guess is it will probably be consistent for the next few years, unless there’s another expansion.”

Industry Enlargement

Pennsylvania’s gaming industry is much different today than it was prior to COVID-19.

The pandemic led to many in-person gamblers moving online. While most of that play has since returned to the brick-and-mortar properties, iGaming sites continue to benefit from traditional players getting their feet wet with gambling over the internet. Internet casinos continue to see elevated revenue compared with 2019.

Pennsylvania additionally today has 65 truck stops that offer slot-like video gaming terminals (VGTs).