July is not known as a big betting month, but that didn’t stop the expansion of the PA online betting market from posting the biggest month for Pennsylvania sports betting yet.
The state’s eight sportsbooks generated $59 million in total handle. That represents roughly $20 million in retail wagering and another $39 million in online betting. In just the third month of online betting’s existence, it already represents roughly two-thirds of the total PA betting market.
Revenue numbers skewed by promo credit
Sports betting revenue numbers may not look as impressive, but that is largely because of the massive amounts of promotional credit the sites are doling out. Both Rivers and SugarHouse each put up around a million in promotional credit, while FanDuel racked up $120,000 and Parx gave away $90,000.
With the reconciliation of that credit, online revenue for the month came in at just $665,799. Combine that with the $2.1 million the retail books racked up and total revenue comes in at $2,808,542. Of that, roughly $1 million went to the state in taxes.
Complete July PA sports betting numbers
Here is a look at how each sportsbook fared this month:
| Casino or Off-Track Betting Facility | Total Handle | Total Revenue | Online Handle | Online Revenue | Retail Handle | Land-Based Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SugarHouse Casino | $26,450,976 | $1,071,187 | $22,162,651 | $540,766 | $4,288,325 | $530,421 |
| Rivers Casino | $14,343,453 | $133,634 | $9,927,161 | ($250,941) | $4,416,292 | $384,576 |
| Parx Casino | $7,199,507 | $656,974 | $3,648,995 | $242,244 | $3,550,511 | $414,730 |
| Valley Forge Casino Resort | $5,048,106 | $301,876 | $3,259,840 | $133,730 | $1,788,266 | $168,146 |
| South Philadelphia Race and Sportsbook | $1,864,245 | $150,074 | 0 | 0 | $1,864,245 | $150,074 |
| Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course | $1,772,466 | $196,188 | 0 | 0 | $1,772,466 | $196,188 |
| Harrah’s Philadelphia | $1,700,923 | $186,574 | 0 | 0 | $1,700,923 | $186,574 |
| Oaks Race and Sportsbook | $789,502 | $110,162 | 0 | 0 | $789,502 | $110,162 |
| Presque Isle Downs | $162,781 | $45,469 | 0 | 0 | $162,781 | $45,469 |
| Statewide Total | $59,331,959 | $2,852,137 | $38,998,648 | $665,798 | $20,333,311 | $2,186,339 |
SugarHouse rules the online roost
Almost 45% of all bets this month were with SugarHouse Sportsbook. The $22 million in wagers on PlaySugarHouse PA dwarfed the competition, which is not surprising. SugarHouse was the first to market and continues to draw customers with its generous PA sportsbook sign-up bonus offer.
Unlike its sister site, BetRivers Sportsbook, the promo credit issue did not stop SugarHouse from having a positive month. The site generated over $540,000 in revenue. Rivers, on the other hand, posted $250,000 in losses on the month.
Parx, which was unavailable on iPhones last month, posted just $3.6 million in online wagers. FanDuel posted a comparable $3.3 million but was also only operational for a few days of the month.
Rivers and SugarHouse dominate retail
On the retail front, Rivers Pittsburgh enjoyed its last month as the only sportsbook in western PA. It took the most bets at $4.4 million, with SugarHouse on its heels with $4.3 million in wagers. Parx rounded out the top three with $3.6 million in handle.
The five also-rans accounted for the remaining 40% of bets. With football betting kicking off in August, expect all these numbers to grow substantially in the next report though.
Football is king
With football getting underway and online betting finally live, the August report could very easily generate eight figures in handle. Now that all four betting apps are accessible on iPhones, online betting should continue to explode.
August will also include the addition of Presque Isle Downs’ retail sportsbook and potentially a couple of others that might get up and running in time for NFL Week 1 on Sept. 5.
