After establishing a new market record in March, it seemed like Pennsylvania casinos were set for any greater April. Unfortunately, this was not the case, and the state’s gambling industry instead reported falling gaming revenue last month.
According to the revenue figures that were released by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB), the Keystone State’s 12 licensed casinos operators generated a combined slot and table game revenue of $277.8 million in April. This represented an over 1 percent year-on-year decrease and a significant decline from the all-time high of $309.1 million that was reported in March. Table games performed quite well though, posting a 3.7 percent year-on-year increase to $77.4 million.
The Individual Casino Performance
| Casino |
April 2019 Total Gaming Revenue |
April 2018 Total Gaming Revenue | % Change |
| Parx Casino | $51,259,416 | $52,128,335 | -1.67% |
| Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem | $47,031,211 | $43,695,442 | 7.63% |
| Rivers Casino | $31,294,242 | $30,471,550 | 2.70% |
| SugarHouse Casino | $28,462,036 | $25,884,105 | 9.96% |
| Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course | $20,727,328 | $21,677,320 | -4.38% |
| Harrah’s Philadelphia | $20,648,441 | $24,083,424 | -14.26% |
| The Meadows Casino | $19,534,043 | $21,775,693 | -10.29% |
| Mohegan Sun Pocono | $19,285,858 | $20,785,616 | -7.22% |
| Mount Airy Casino Resort | $14,142,806 | $16,291,240 | -13.19% |
| Valley Forge Casino Resort | $11,765,486 | $10,146,745 | 15.95% |
| Presque Isle Downs and Casino | $11,210,451 | $11,377,257 | -1.47% |
| Lady Luck Casino Nemacolin | $2,446,510 | $2,529,415 | -3.28% |
| Statewide Total | $277,807,829 | $280,846,142 | -1.08% |
Mohegan Sun’s Plans to Boost Casino Revenue
Last week Mohegan Sun defended its application for a sports betting license at a Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) meeting. This was just one of the issues that that casino operator brought up during the meeting. The next one was its plans to renovate and update is casino property and this raised a lot of concern among the board members.
As it turns, the operator intends to close down the property’s original casino area, relocate and renovate its poker room and reduce the number of table games in specific areas on the property. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the plans is the operator’s aim to do away with a whopping 405 slot machines around the casino – this represents about 17 percent of the casino’s inventory. Naturally, the members of the state’s gaming control board were interested in knowing “how much of this decision is a function of the physical limitations of your space as opposed to what’s optimal.”
Perhaps the biggest sticking point with the gaming control board is the fact that modification plans involve shutting down the original casino space on the property – this will feature the majority of the slot machine reductions – the phase hosts a total of 383 slot machines. Pennsylvania is highly dependent on slot revenue and therefore Mohegan Sun will definitely have a very good reason for proposing the removal of a huge chunk of its machines.
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