Since approving casino gambling back in 2006, Pennsylvania has enjoyed uninterrupted growth until January saw a 4% decline in gambling revenue for the
January is always considered a slow month for casinos as gamblers re-pay debts accumulated over the holidays. In addition, Pennsylvania’s freezing January temperatures played extra havoc with revenue figures as punters stayed away during the snow storms.
However, any concerns by the state of a continuation of the trend were short lived after Pennsylvania casinos returned to normality once again in February, and recorded an 18% increase in slots revenue to $197.9 million for the month. Pennsylvania’s February’s table games revenue report is expected on March 10th.
Leading the way of top slots earners at Pennsylvania’s 10 casinos was Parx Casino which grossed over $30 million in revenue. The SugarHouse Casino which opened last September also helped increase the overall tally with an impressive $13.4 million in revenue.
The revenue figures for February seem to confirm analysts’ conjecture that Pennsylvania will one day overtake Atlantic City as the new gambling capital of the East Coast, with Gaming Analyst Brad Dawkins commenting:
“There is no reason to believe at this point that the Pennsylvania casinos will start going backwards with their revenue. More likely is the revenue will continue to grow, and if no changes are made to New Jersey laws, Pennsylvania will become the top gaming industry in the region.”
The changes to which Dawkins alluded to was an attempt by rival Atlantic City to regulate online casinos, which was vetoed this month by Governor Chris Christie.
Without online gambling Atlantic City has little to differentiate its gaming industry from that of Pennsylvania, and in the meantime the state has also suffered from increased competition from new competitors Philadelphia, Delaware, Maryland, and West Virginia.
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