June’s gambling figures in Pennsylvania have been published, in a month when almost all land-based casinos opened their doors to the public again. 

Sports betting showed signs of recovery, with both revenue and handle increasing compared to what had been the case in May. 

Online gaming outside of sports betting also continued to perform well, though revenue fell somewhat in comparison to the previous month. 

For the third successive month, players also wagered more than $1 billion on online slots and table games. 

Sports betting on the rise again 

Sportsbooks throughout the Keystone State handled $89 million in total sports betting handle last month. Of this, they kept $6.7 million. 

The above handle and revenue figures were both higher than had been the case in May. Handle was 14.8% more (May: $77.5 million), while revenue grew by 37.9% (May’s figure was $4.8 million). 

From regulated sports betting, the state brought in $1.6 million in taxes. 

The end of June also signaled the end of the 2019-2020 fiscal year, which was the first full one for online gaming in Pennsylvania. Operators generated $117.3 million in gross revenue, with players wagering $2.3 billion in total. 

Overall, state taxes amounted to $38.7 million. 

Despite the adversities that have affected US (and global) sports betting in general recently, PlayPennsylvania.com Analyst Valerie Cross believes that the Pennsylvanian market is in a better place to move forward compared to last year. She said the following. 

“The disruption in sports betting is something no one could have seen coming, but even with it, the industry is leaps and bounds ahead of where it was last year.

“If major sports resume as planned, sportsbooks will almost instantly return to generating hundreds of millions of dollars in bets each month.”

How did other verticals fare? 

Online casino and poker operators generated $50.1 million in revenue between them. This was slightly lower than the $55.8 million they had brought in over the course of May. From this, the state made $14.4 million in taxes. 

Wagering for online slots and table games was above $1 billion for the third month in a row. Handle in this respect totaled $1.7 billion, which was a little lower than May’s $1.8 billion but also still higher than the $1.4 billion wagered by players in April. 

Revenue for online slots and table games reached $46.8 million. 

Online poker was hailed as one of the online gambling industry’s saving graces during the COVID-19 pandemic. But PokerStars PA’s revenue in this respect continued to drop, reaching $3.2 million. With that being said, it was still the operator’s third-best month since it introduced this vertical to Pennsylvania in 2019. It has witnessed a record of $5.3 million in April, before its second-best tally of $4.6 million in May. 

Land-based venues in Pennsylvania open again 

Casinos in Pennsylvania have been allowed to open since June 9th. However, eight venues reopened in the final eight days of last month. All venues have had to operate at a limited capacity in an attempt to halt the spread of COVID-19.

Only one of Pennsylvania’s 12 casinos did not reopen last month. That was Rivers Casino Philadelphia, which is reopening today (July 17th). 

Slots revenue for the 11 casinos that decided to open was $62.4 million last month, representing a 69% year-on-year dip. Land-based table games brought in $11.7 million, which was 83% lower than in June 2019. 

Across both online and retail, regulated gambling in Pennsylvania generated $132.6 million in revenue. That was 51.3% lower than June 2019’s $271.3 million total, but 116.4% higher than had been the case in May 2020.