Pennsylvania Gaming Industry Starts 2025 Strong After Record 2024

Posted on: February 21, 2025, 02:44h. 

Last updated on: February 21, 2025, 02:46h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.
  • Pennsylvania gaming revenue reached a record high of $6.13 billion last year
  • The state gaming industry kept the rally going in January 2025
  • iGaming continues to fuel the expansion

Pennsylvania gaming revenue started 2025 where it left off 2024 — strong.

Pennsylvania gaming revenue Valley Forge
The Valley Forge Casino Resort and its Stardust Tower are seen in November 2023. The Pennsylvania property was the top-grossing casino in the commonwealth in January 2025, with most of its gaming revenue coming online. (Image: Shutterstock)

On Thursday, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) revealed January revenue numbers for the commonwealth’s 17 brick-and-mortar casinos, iGaming, sports betting, fantasy sports, and video gaming terminals. The total haul amounted to more than $529 million, a nearly 11% gain from January 2024.

iGaming, or online slot machines and interactive table games, including poker rake, continues to be most responsible for the growth. The state’s online casinos generated record gross gaming revenue (GGR) of over $210.7 million.

Online GGR surged 40.5% from the prior January, a gain of more than $60.6 million.

American Gaming Association President and CEO Bill Miller said this week during the trade group’s release of its 2024 commercial GGR report that iGaming continues to find favor among gamblers.

Commercial gaming continues to demonstrate unprecedented success. Much of this growth has been driven by the continued expansion in online gaming,” Miller said.

That has certainly been the case in Pennsylvania. Along with January, 2024 GGR in the Keystone State saw iGaming revenue climb to $2.17 billion. While legacy revenue at the state’s land-based casinos slowed 1.5%, iGaming expanded 25%.

Pennsylvania Casinos Begin 2025 Positive

After 2024 saw physical revenue retract, Pennsylvania casinos rebounded to kick off the new year. The PGCB relayed that the 17 physical casinos won $261.5 million on their slots and tables, which marked an almost 4% climb from January 2024 when in-person GGR totaled $252.1 million.

Retail slot revenue was up almost 5% to $187.8 million. Felt win climbed 1.5% to $73.7 million.

January 2025 had the same number of Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays as January 2024. The uptick was presumably aided by a bitterly cold month throughout much of the state. Though accustomed to a cold January, last month was exceptionally cold and limited many outdoor winter activities.

Parx Casino north of Philadelphia in Bensalem retained the top position among the 17 physical casinos with GGR of approximately $45.4 million. Wind Creek Bethlehem in Eastern PA was second at $40.7 million from in-person players. 

Eagles Crush Sportsbooks 

The lone gaming vertical in Pennsylvania to experience a year-over-year decline was the sportsbooks. It was a deep dive indeed, as Pennsylvania bettors heavily backed the Philadelphia Eagles throughout their playoff run that ended with a Super Bowl victory this month.

Oddsmakers reported win of $51.5 million, a 26% drop from January 2024 when they kept almost $70 million of the bets wagered. Bettors risked over $873.1 million on sports in January, meaning oddsmakers’ hold was less than 6%.

All but $2.3 million of the sports betting revenue came via online bets. 

Top Casino Is Top Sportsbook

Along with retail, iGaming, and sports betting, video gaming terminals in truck stops grew revenue by 4.5% to about $3.2 million and fantasy sports contest fees climbed 9% to $2.7 million.

As for the big picture, Valley Forge Casino Resort came out on top as the top-grossing casino with combined GGR of nearly $97.8 million. The bulk of the casino’s revenue came online, as its partner FanDuel is the top sportsbook in the state accounting for $28.8 million of the January hold. Valley Forge’s FanDuel and Stardust iGaming platforms were second only to Penn Entertainment’s online gaming business.