As several other states consider online casino gaming legalization, including Maryland and New York, online gaming continues to shine in the major legalized jurisdictions.
That included some significant revenue gains in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and online sports betting continues to be a popular pastime for many Americans. However, Michigan saw a bit of a dip for online gaming revenue in January. Here’s a look at some of the latest numbers.
Pennsylvania
The Keystone State continued registering major gaming revenue numbers in January, according to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. Combined total revenue generated from all forms of gaming reached $477.2 million, an increase of 2.7% compared to January 2023.
Sources of gaming revenue in Pennsylvania include slot machines, table games, online gaming, sports wagering, fantasy contests, and video gaming terminals (VGTs).
For live casinos, Valley Forge registered as the top property in the state, bringing in $91.9 million, a 35.3% increase from $67.9 million in January 2023. Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course came in second with $61.7 million. However, that was a 14.1% decrease from $71.8 million for the same month a year ago.
On the PA online gambling front, the market once again saw some significant gains compared to January 2023. The industry brought in $149.6 million, an increase of 12.4% from $133.1 million a year ago. Here’s how that total is broken down:
- Online slots – $110 million
- Online table games – $36.9 million
- Online poker – $2.7 million
When it comes to PA sports betting, total January wagering handle was $858.2 million, 11.1% above the $772.3 million from January 2023. Of that, $66 million of the total came from online betting. The total taxable revenue figure when combining live and online betting was $69.9 million, up 78.2% from January 2023 ($39.3 million).
Total tax revenue generated from all forms of gaming in January totaled $195.2million, with $65.7 million of that coming from online gaming. Pennsylvania continues as a leader in the U.S. iGaming industry.
New Jersey
The Garden State saw some mixed results for January with declines in live casino revenue and a big jump for online gaming, according to the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.
In the live casino arena, Atlantic City’s nine casinos saw $205 million in revenue for January 2024, a drop of 3.1% when compared to $211.7 million in January 2023. Much of that comes from a decrease in slot revenue to $143 million, down 5.8% from 2023. Table games accounted for $62.1 million, an increase of 3.7%.
NJ online gaming overall proved to be a bright spot with January revenue up 19.9% to $183.3 million, compared to $152.9 million last January. NJ sports wagering also saw major gross revenue increases for January, reaching $170.8 million. That’s an increase of 136.1% compared to $72.3 million in January 2023. Online poker saw an 8.2% drop from $2.7 million in January 2023 to $2.5 million last month.
Overall total gaming achieved $559.1 million for January, a 28% increase from $436.9 million in 2023. Online gaming has the state off to a big start to 2024.
Michigan
The Wolverine State reported $229.6 million total online gaming gross receipts and gross sports betting receipts in January, a drop of 5.4% from December. By itself, MI online casino including poker, accounted for gross receipts of $181.9 million, topping Michigan’s previous high of $181.4 million. The previous record was set in December 2023.
Gross sports betting receipts offset that gain a bit, totaling $47.7 million – a decline from $61.1 million in December. Combined total iGaming and MI online sports betting adjusted gross receipts (AGR) for January reached $183 million, with $164.2 million of that from online casino and $18.8 million from online sports. Online poker isn’t separated out in Michigan and is just included in the online casino gaming totals.
iGaming AGR saw an increase of 0.5% and sports betting suffered a decrease of 46.5% when compared to December. Online gaming AGR was up by 18.7% compared to January 2023 and sports betting was up 5.4%. For online sports betting, the total handle of $577.4 million was down 1% from the $583 million handle in December.
Operators submitted $31.3 million in taxes and payments for the month including $30 million for iGaming and $1.3 million for online sports betting. The three Detroit casinos reported paying the city $8.5 million in taxes and municipal services fees. Tribal operators reported making $3.6 million in payments to governing bodies in January. As of January, 15 commercial and tribal operators were authorized to offer iGaming or online sports betting.
