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.