Pennsylvania Sportsbooks Complete Record Year With FanDuel Dominating the Market

Written By Katie Kohler on July 19, 2021 - Last Updated on May 3, 2023
Pennsylvania sportsbooks June 2021 handle and revenue.

Handle continued its expected summer slide at Pennsylvania sportsbooks but revenue remained strong. In June, Pennsylvania sports bettors wagered $420.2 million and sportsbooks reported $42.5 million in revenue according to figures released by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. Handle decreased 6% from May and revenue increased 13.6%.

It’s been two years since sports betting apps launched in PA and has been the trend, the majority of the wagers were placed online (90.2%) in June. Sportsbooks’ win percentage/hold was 10.1%, a jump from 8.4% from May.

Pennsylvania sportsbooks gave away $8.3 million in promotional credits, the lowest amount of freebies since July 2020. Promos reduced sportsbooks’ taxable revenue to $34.2 million. The state collected $11.6 million in taxes from sports betting in May with an additional $684K headed to local entities.

FanDuel Sportsbook remains the top operator in the PA sports betting industry. It took 57% more bets than its next closest competitor ($162.5 million handle) and posted $19.7 million in revenue. Through its partnership with Valley Forge Casino, FanDuel, took nearly 40% of all bets placed in PA in June. It represented FanDuel’s biggest slice of the market share since August 2020.

Record year for Pennsylvania sportsbooks

It was a record fiscal year for Pennsylvania sportsbooks. In FY 2020/2021, PA sportsbooks had a record $5.6 billion in handle and $440.6 million in revenue.

Here is a look at a fiscal year breakdown of the handle, revenue and taxes for sports betting in Pennsylvania.

Fiscal year 2018/2019

  • Handle: $244.6 million
  • Taxable revenue: $21.7 million
  • State tax (34%): $699,319
  • Local share (2%): $41,136

Fiscal year 2019/2020

  • Handle: $2.5 billion
  • Revenue: $163.3 million
  • Taxable Revenue: $135.5 million
  • State tax: $38.6 million
  • Local share: $2.3 million

Fiscal year 2020/2021

  • Handle: $5.6 billion
  • Revenue: $440.6 million
  • Taxable Revenue: $308.8 million
  • State tax: $105 million
  • Local share: $6.2 million

Pennsylvania levies the highest tax on sports betting revenue at 36%. The money collected from taxes from sports betting goes into the general fund; 34% is a state tax and 2% is a local share assessment.

A much different June for PA sportsbooks

From June 2020 to June 2021 handle increased 372% at PA sportsbooks. However, last June the sports calendar was still pretty bare due to COVID cancellations. In June, bettors had a much more to choose from with NBA playoffs, NHL playoffs, EURO 2020 soccer, and MLB action. In terms of the local teams, the Philadelphia 76ers failed to make it past the second round of the playoffs, the Flyers didn’t qualify for the playoffs, the Penguins had a quick exit, the Phillies have been treading water at .500 and the Pirates are in last place.

How did other states fare in June? New Jersey sports betting handle reached $766.9 million and $71.3 million in revenue. 

Illinois recently released May sports betting numbers and reported a handle of $507.3 million.  Handle hit $477.2 million in Nevada in May

FanDuel continues to dominate in PA and DraftKings maintains a strong grip on No. 2. DraftKings’ June handle of $87.4 million was its lowest since Aug. 2020 but they did see revenue increase from last month ($6.5 million). BetMGM holds the No. 3 spot. Barstool’s June handle ($31.8 million) was the lowest since it launched in Sept. 2020. Revenue for Barstool PA sportsbook in June was $3.2 million, an increase from May’s $2.8 million

PA sports betting handle & revenue by operator in June 2021

LicenseeOnline BrandTotal HandleTotal RevenueOnline HandleOnline RevenueRetail HandleRetail Revenue
Valley ForgeFanDuel$164,832,204$20,088,342$162,520,699$19,673,603$2,311,506$414,738
MeadowsDraftKings$87,456,003$6,533,876$86,028,646$6,432,885$1,427,357$100,991
Hollywood MorgantownBetMGM$37,404,303$3,203,820$37,404,303$3,203,820$0$0
Hollywood Penn NationalBarstool$33,506,874$3,475,875$31,871,214$3,229,292$1,635,660$246,582
Rivers PittsburghBetRivers$23,173,942$1,821,944$18,477,549$1,400,330$4,696,392$421,614
Rivers PhiladelphiaSugarHouse$19,320,093$1,972,943$11,345,718$918,173$7,974,375$1,054,771
ParxParx$16,128,951$1,872,095$9,768,791$1,100,295$6,360,160$771,800
Mount AiryFox Bet$13,224,189$952,435$12,591,809$934,728$632,380$17,707
Mohegan Sun PoconoUnibet$5,711,022$521,684$4,744,020$376,848$967,002$144,836
Harrah's PhiladelphiaCaesars$4,778,127$114,375$1,500,084$56,986$3,278,043$57,389
Presque IsleTwinSpires$4,661,513$584,290$2,228,398$194,104$2,433,115$390,186
Live PhiladelphiaBetway$4,522,938$643,652$14,883$3,655$4,508,055$639,997
South Philly OTBN/A$1,953,906$342,472$0$0$1,953,906$342,472
Wind CreekWind Creek$1,550,093$84,004$771,648$33,801$778,445$50,202
Lehigh OTBN/A$1,086,821$145,945$0$0$1,086,821$145,945
Live PittsburghN/A$882,400$137,580$0$0$882,400$137,580
Total$420,193,377$42,495,332$379,267,760$37,558,522$40,925,617$4,936,810

June fantasy sports figures

It’s no surprise DFS operators benefitted from the return of a normal sports schedule in June. Fantasy operators reported $1.9 million in revenue in June. DraftKings ($994,389) and FanDuel ($884,656) claim nearly all of the DFS revenue in PA

Lead Image: FanDuel Sporstbook at Valley Forge Casino.by Katie Kohler.

Katie Kohler Avatar
Written by
Katie Kohler

Katie Kohler is a Philadelphia-area based award-winning journalist and Managing Editor at PlayPennsylvania. Katie especially enjoys creating unique content and on-the-ground reporting in PA. She is focused on creating valuable, timely content about casinos and sports betting for readers. Katie has covered the legal Pennsylvania gambling industry for Catena Media since 2019.

View all posts by Katie Kohler
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