Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

Pennsylvania’s sports-betting handle doubles in January, but it still lags New Jersey by far

Pennsylvania sports bettors wagered $32M in January, and lost $2.6M to casinos. In New Jersey, betters wagered $385M on sports, losing $15.5M to bookmakers

Bettors af the SugarHouse Casino sportsbook on launch day, Dec. 13. DAVID SWANSON / Staff Photographer .
Bettors af the SugarHouse Casino sportsbook on launch day, Dec. 13. DAVID SWANSON / Staff Photographer .Read moreDAVID SWANSON / Staff Photographer

The number of sports betting venues in Pennsylvania doubled last month, and so did the amount bettors wagered. But the sports gaming business in New Jersey, which had a five-month head start launching its legal sportsbooks, is now 12 times bigger than in Pennsylvania.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board reported Friday that six sports betting outlets took in $32 million in January, and captured $2.6 million in revenue. The state took in $938,597 in taxes from sports betting, up from $722,356 in December.

Across the Delaware River, New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement on Wednesday announced the state’s sports wagering outlets took in $385.3 million in wagers in January, including $305 million in internet sports bets. The sportsbooks captured $15.5 million in winnings from bettors, and paid $2.3 million to the state in taxes.

In Pennsylvania, SugarHouse Casino in Philadelphia, which launched its sportsbook in December and reported its first full month of activity, led the state with $10.8 million in sports bets, $1.3 million more than its sister facility in Pittsburgh, the Rivers Casino. But SugarHouse only captured $103,523 in revenue from bettors, while Rivers took in $853,316.

Parx Casino in Bensalem, which began taking bets on Jan. 8, took in $5.4 million in bets for the partial month, but led the state in gross revenue, capturing $1.2 million from bettors.

Parx’s satellite location at the South Philadelphia Turf Club took in an additional $858,130 in sports bets, and Harrah’s Philadlephia Casino and Racetrack, which opened on Jan. 22, took in $615,704.

It’s difficult to compare the performance of individual operators in Pennsylvania because the casinos report monthly revenue based upon the total amount bet during a month, including bets on future events, minus payouts made on any winning wagers, including bets placed in earlier months. So it is not possible to calculate a win percentage on the public data for one month.

Sports betting, legalized last year by a U.S. Supreme Court decision, launched in Pennsylvania just before Thanksgiving at the Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course, near Hershey. Hollywood’s handle fell slightly in January, to $4.8 million from $5.1 million in December.