Pennsylvania’s casinos set a new table game revenue record in March, led by Las Vegas Sands’ Sands Bethlehem.
According to figures released Monday by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, the state’s dozen casinos reported total table game revenue of $77.9m in March. The figure is up 11.7% from the same month last year, and eclipsed the previous monthly table record (set this past December) by $5.7m.
Sands Bethlehem, the traditional top table earner, led the March table madness with nearly $19.7m, 14.8% better than it reported in March 2015. Runner-up Parx Casino was well back with just under $15.4m.
Combined with the state’s previously released slots figures for March, the total gaming haul for the month was $289.2m, up 4.2% year-on-year.
The Gaming Control Board also released its ninth annual report on the casino industry’s impact on the state’s horse racing industry. The state’s three thoroughbred and three harness racetracks – all of which have their own slots operations – received a cash injection totalling over $228m last year from the state’s slots revenue.
That $228m represents a 1.6% increase over the sum racing derived from casino activity in 2014. Pennsylvania has the nation’s highest tax rate on slots (55%) and nearly 90% of the tracks’ parimutuel purses last year came via slots tax revenue. All told, the tracks received 11% of total statewide slot revenue.
The tracks are increasingly dependent on slots handouts, as pari-mutuel racing handle at the six tracks was $30.6m in 2015, down from $38.2m in 2011. Off-track wagering handle has fallen nearly in half to $8.4m over the same period. Out-of-state wagering on Pennsylvania races came to $650.2m in 2015, $56m more than in 2011 but $69m less than in 2013.
