The month of May produced some mixed results for live and online gaming revenue in the largest legalized markets. Pennsylvania showed nice numbers overall while Michigan saw some downturns. New Jersey produced good totals for online gaming while live casino revenue declined.
With summer now officially underway, industry observers may be watching to see what develops as Americans begin booking casino getaways. Here’s a look at the numbers in all three states.
PA Gaming Revenue Continues Growth; iGaming Booms
In the Keystone State, casino gaming and online wagering continued showing big numbers across the board. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) reported total combined revenue from all forms of gaming along from May reached $479.4 million, a 7% increase compared to May 2022. This includes all revenue from slots, table games, sports betting, fantasy contests, video gaming terminals (VGTs), and iGaming.
Hollywood Casino produced the highest gaming total, with $74.4 million in revenue. That’s an 18.3% increase from $62.8 million from the same month in 2022. Valley Forge Casino finished second with $64.2 million, an increase of 21.7% from last May’s $52.8 million.
On the iGaming front, the state saw gross revenue of $141 million in May compared to $113.3 million in May 2022. That equates to a hefty increase of 24.4% and generated tax revenue of $60.8 million. Here’s a breakdown of each online gaming segment:
- Slots – $100.6 million
- Table games – $37.9 million
- Online Poker – $2.5 million
Sports wagering revenue, including online betting for May saw a total handle of $495.6 million, a slight increase of 0.5% from May 2022. Of that, taxable revenue equaled $41.1 million, a 17.4% increase from $35 million in May 2022.
New Jersey Sees Overall Gaming Decrease, Online Gaming Remains Strong
The Garden State saw live gaming revenue edge down for the month of May after almost a 10% monthly increase in April. However, online gaming remained strong overall and helped bring overall revenue up in the state.
The Division of Gaming Enforcement reported $227.3 million in total live gaming revenue for the state’s nine casinos in May. That’s a decrease of 2.4% compared to $233 million for May 2022. Year-to-date revenue was $1.1 billion, a growth of 3.1% for the same period in 2022.
In the online gaming sector for May, revenue equaled $161.4 million. This reflects growth of 18.7% compared to $136 million from May 2022. Year to date, iGaming revenue totaled $781.5 million, reflecting growth of 14.7% compared to $681.4 million from the same time in 2022.
Sports wagering revenue boomed compared to May 2022, reaching $82.2 million last month. That’s a large jump of 33.4% compared to last May’s $61.6 million. So far in 2023, sports wagering gross revenue totaled $374.5, a 39% increase compared to $269.4 million for the prior year-to-date period.
Overall, total revenue from live and online gaming reached $470.9 million for May, a 9.4% increase from $430.6 million in May 2022. That equals almost $2.3 billion for the year so far, an 11.7% increase from just over $2 billion from the same time period last year.
Michigan Online Gaming Down for Second Straight Month
New Jersey wasn’t the only state to see decreases in May. After a monthly revenue slide of almost 10% in April, online gaming saw another decrease in Michigan for May. Commercial and tribal operators reported a combined $185.8 million in total iGaming revenue in May, a downturn of 5.1% from April.
Online gaming receipts totaled $150.6 million while sports betting produced total receipts of $35.2 million. April’s numbers were $159.4 million for iGaming and $36.3 million for sports betting.
Combined adjusted gross receipts came in at $157.5 million, $135.5 million from Internet gaming and $22 million from online sports betting. This equates to decreases of 5.5% for iGaming and 10.2% for sports betting from April 2023. However, compared to May 2022 that’s an increase of 18.1% for iGaming and only a 2% decrease for sports.
Total online sports betting handle was also down to $288.3 million, a drop of 10.7% from the $322.8 million in April. Operators produced $29.4 million in taxes and fee payments to the state for May including:
- Internet gaming – $28 million
- Online sports betting – $1.4 million
In Detroit, casinos paid the city government $7.6 million in taxes and fees in May including:
- Internet gaming – $7.0 million
- Online sports betting – $642,422
Tribal gaming operators reported $3.4 million in payments to governing bodies in May. A total of 15 operators offered online gaming and sports betting.
