Despite a year-on-year increase of 87%, results still slowed, with the state recording total sports betting handle of $304m, with $275m coming from online wagers.
July’s gross receipts generated $19.9m in revenue while gross gaming revenue (GGR) was $27.5m, a decrease of 36% from the previous month.
“Even with the NBA Finals and the Olympics to help boost the schedule this year, bettors in Pennsylvania and beyond just don’t engage sportsbooks as much during July,” said Dustin Gouker, lead analyst for the PlayUSA.com network, which includes PlayPennsylania.com.
“This year in particular saw a surge in nationwide travel, which means people were occupied with family vacations and other summer activities. That said, sportsbooks cannot wait for football season to ramp up.”
FanDuel took top spot as the most profitable online sportsbook for July, with $107m in wagers and a GGR of $12.3m.
Barstool Sportsbook, the sports betting platform of Penn National Gaming, came in second with a handle of $66.2m.
For land-based, Rivers Philadelphia was the state’s most profitable sportsbook, with $5.9m in handle.
“The pandemic will continue to be the most important factor for the retail market for the foreseeable future,” Gouker said. “As the latest surge shows, the hope that retail sports betting would return to normal by football season seems overly optimistic.”
While sports betting numbers fell, online casinos saw unsuprisingly impressive growth. Handle from online casinos and poker saw GGR rise 4% to $105m.
