Count Pennsylvania among the states declaring 2023 to be the best year ever for gambling. Following New Jersey, which declared record yearly income earlier this week, Pennsylvania said on Thursday that 2023 was a historic year for its casino sector.

Pennsylvania offers truck stop video gaming terminals, iGaming, live and online sports betting, brick and mortar casinos, and fantasy sports. The diverse gaming interests came together in 2023 to win a record $5.697 billion. The victory in 2023 signifies a 9.3% rise from the previous year.

According to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board's (PGCB) year-end report, the record performance was mostly attributable to iGaming, which includes online table games and slot machines. $1.74 billion was lost by online gamblers, a 28% increase over 2022 losses.

The state's 17 casinos' physical slot machines performed admirably as well, generating record gross gaming revenue (GGR) of $2.46 billion, an increase of 3%. The sports betting stakes held by oddsmakers increased by more than 14% to a record $458.6 million.

There were minor decreases in the other verticals from the previous year. A $990.5 million casino table game victory was a 2% decrease. The revenue from fantasy sports contests decreased by 10% to $20 million, while the revenue from VGT fell by 2% to $42 million.

iGaming's Crash

In the six states where internet casinos are permitted, the gaming industry is still thriving. The remarkable run of the industry was maintained by the $1.74 billion won by the internet channels last year.
iGaming was made legal in Pennsylvania by the 2017 gambling expansion package. The launch of online operations came around the end of 2019.

The timing of iGaming's first full year in Pennsylvania in 2020 was ideal. Online casinos continued to operate when the state ordered its land-based casinos to close because to the pandemic. In that year, iGaming platforms made over $565.7 million in revenue.

Since then, Pennsylvania's internet casinos have only expanded. iGaming GGR exceeded $1.11 billion in 2021 and reached a staggering $1.36 billion in 2022.

Despite iGaming's notable revenue increases, the state's land-based casinos have been able to maintain a positive revenue growth.

3.46 billion was won by retail slots and tables last year, a 1.6% rise from the previous year. The 2023 casino win was just 5% more than it was before to the pandemic in 2019, although representing a 7% increase on the 2021 GGR.

Although land-based casinos in states that allow internet gaming have been able to double their gross gaming revenues (GGRs) year over year, analysts are worried that the growth of the land-based casinos may be less strong due to the presence of online games.

Parx Leads
The highest-grossing casino in the commonwealth last year was Parx Casino, which is located north of Philadelphia. The establishment made $588.2 million in total revenue from its slots and $202 million from its tables.

The only smoke-free casinos in the state are Parx and its sister property, Parx Casino Shippensburg.

With a gross gaming revenue of $526.3 million, which included $285 million from slots and $241.3 million from tables, Wind Creek Bethlehem came in second.

With $712.4 million in revenue, Penn Entertainment's Hollywood Casino online brand took the lead in iGaming.

New Jersey defeats Pennsylvania

The two wealthiest gaming states in the nation for a long time were Nevada and New Jersey. That is, until Pennsylvania narrowly defeated the Garden State to take second position in 2022. With a 2022 GGR of $5,211,274,456, Pennsylvania almost defeated New Jersey by $28,735.

In 2023, New Jersey returned to the top rank with a GGR over $5.77 billion. Although the state's casinos in Nevada won over $14 billion in revenue through November, the state has not yet released their December earnings.