Despite reporting a large figure, the state has ended a four-month streak of having wagers surpass the $500m mark, while the amount in April is actually the lowest since September’s $462.8m.
However, Pennsylvania has still seen a significant increase year-on-year rise, as last April it only accepted $46m in bets due to the Covid-19 pandemic wreaking havoc on the sporting calendar.
Dustin Gouker, analyst for PlayPennsylvania.com, said: “Sports betting is following normal seasonal patterns seen in almost every legal jurisdiction, so it might be until September that the state’s sportsbooks begin to challenge the state record books again.”
Pennsylvanian sportsbooks won $36m in gross gaming revenue, a 1,025.1% increase from the $3.2m in April 2020 but a 13.9% drop from last month's revenue of $41m.
Most of the money came from online sports betting, as this accounted for $439.1m of April’s handle, or 91.6% of the total.
The online operators which led in wagers were Fanduel and Valley Forge, who took in $167.6m in online wagering, down from the $202.8m in March.
April’s receipts produced $26.3m in taxable revenue and yielded $8.9m in state taxes; meanwhile, the local share assessment was $525,930.
Valerie Cross, analyst for PlayPennsylvania.com, added: “Retail betting, whether casino games or sports betting, continues to inch toward normal, while the gains in online revenues made over the last year continue to hold.
“That has created an overall gaming market that easily surpasses pre-pandemic level, even if retail betting is not quite where it was.”
