Catena Media-owned PlayPennsylvania is a company that analyses and researches the state’s regulated online gaming and sports betting market.
Its recent findings show online casinos earned a record-breaking amount of nearly $100m in revenue, while the NCAA Tournament spurred handle to reach $560m, the second-highest monthly volume in Pennsylvania’s history.
Lead analyst for PlayPennsylvania.com, Dustin Gouker, said: “March’s results show just how important the NCAA Tournament can be in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, giving a huge boost to sportsbooks at a time when football is dormant.”
The $560.3m in bets raised by online and retail sportsbooks was up 326.6% from $131.3m in March last year. Similarly, sportsbooks produced $41m in gross gaming revenue (GGR) which represented a 376.7% rise.
The state has now generated $506.7m in GGR since its sportsbooks launched; analyst for PlayPennsylvania.com, Valerie Cross believes regardless of the state rankings, Pennsylvania is in an “excellent position”.
Cross added: “$500m in gross gaming revenue is a threshold reached by only two other markets, Nevada and New Jersey, a sign of Pennsylvania’s increasingly mature market.”
Online casinos and poker rooms also had a strong month when they produced $97.7m in taxable revenue, which broke the $80.4m record set in January.
They also set a revenue-per-day record by generating $3.2m every day for the 31 days of March, another rise from the $2.8m per-day revenue set in February.
Year-over-year revenue was also up by 292.4% for online casinos, while online wagering grew 275% to $3.3bn from $871.6m in March.
Cross said. “The pandemic-related shutdowns of the state’s retail casinos changed bettor behavior for the foreseeable future. This is evident as online casino gaming keeps setting records, even as brick-and-mortar restrictions are eased.”
