PA Slot Revenue Down For Seventh Straight Month, But Table Games Help Casinos Tick Upwards In April

Pennsylvania casinos suffered through another year-over-year slot revenue decline in April, a trend that’s becoming hard to ignore. The April slide marks the seventh consecutive month slot revenue has landed in the red.

The good news:Total casino revenue was up industry-wide for the second consecutive month, thanks to a double-digit jump in table game revenue.

Top line numbers in April

Here’s a look at the top line April numbers:

• Slot machine revenue: $205,702,752 (-1.6 percent)
• Table game revenue: $79,546,606 (+10.2 percent)
• Total gaming revenue: $285,249,358 (+1.4 percent)

The big takeaway

It’s becoming increasingly hard to overlook the sustained slot revenue slide in which the Pennsylvania casino industry is mired. The drops haven’t been earth-shattering. But seven straight months of decline should have the alarms primed and ready:

• October 2016 slot machine revenue: $191,850,596.41 (-3.04 percent)
• November 2016 slot machine revenue: $179,399,603.94 (-4.34 percent)
• December 2016 slot machine revenue: $185,349,872.22 (-6.17 percent)
• January 2017 slot machine revenue: $180,304,669.91 (-2.44 percent)
• February 2017 slot machine revenue: $192,268,470 (-3.95 percent*)
• March 2017 slot machine revenue: $209,984,146.94 (-0.6 percent)
• April 2017 slot machine revenue: $205,702,752.11 (-1.58 percent)

*Accounting for the leap year in 2016,  the normalized numbers in February have slot revenue down just 0.5 percent YoY.

Individual winners and losers in April

Five of Pennsylvania’s 12 casinos posted YoY revenue increases in April, with Mount Airy, Sands and Valley Forge all posting double-digit growth. Meadows Casino also had a strong month, besting last year’s number by over seven percent. Parx saw only a modest increase.

• Mount Airy Casino: +11.05 percent
• Valley Forge Casino: +10.92 percent
• Sands Bethlehem Casino: +10.06 percent
• Meadows Casino: +7.29 percent
• Parx Casino: +0.97 percent

The other seven casinos in Pennsylvania saw YoY revenues decline in April. None of the casinos that posted YoY losses took a serious hit. With declines of less than a half-percent, SugarHouse and Hollywood Casino more or less broke even.

• Lady Luck Casino: -7.86 percent
• Mohegan Sun Pocono: -7.59 percent
• Rivers Casino: -5.56 percent
• Harrah’s Philadelphia: -4.07 percent
• Presque Isle Downs and Casino: -3.56 percent
• SugarHouse Casino: -0.49 percent
• Hollywood Casino: -0.08 percent

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Casino-by-casino analysis

The chart below shows market share by casino for April 2017.

Parx Casino

• Slot revenue: $33,604,058.08 (-1.35 percent)
• Table game revenue: $15,398,150 (+6.44 percent)
• Total gaming revenue: $49,002,208 (+0.97 percent)

Parx had a good but not great month. Revenue was up nearly one percent, as solid gains in table game revenue offset a small slot decline.

Sands Bethlehem

• Slot revenue: $26,385,356.77 (+0.80 percent)
• Table game revenue: $21,905,082 (+23.75 percent)
• Total gaming revenue: $48,290,439 (+10.06 percent)

Sands had a really good April, with total casino revenue up over 10 percent. Despite the increase — and a ho-hum month from Parx — Sands wasn’t able to overtake its rival. Parx did just enough to hold onto the No. 1 spot.

Rivers Casino

• Slot revenue: $23,004,351.49 (-3.84 percent)
• Table game revenue: $5,870,257 (-11.76 percent)
• Total gaming revenue: $28,874,608 (-5.56 percent)

Rivers dipped a bit this month, but the Pittsburgh casino still has a solid hold on the No. 3 spot behind the state’s heavy hitters, Parx and Sands.

However, its sister casino in Philadelphia, SugarHouse, is starting to bear down on Rivers.

SugarHouse Casino

• Slot revenue: $15,800,770.46 (-4.51 percent)
• Table game revenue: $10,369,438 (+6.33 percent)
• Total gaming revenue: $26,170,209 (-0.49 percent)

A relatively flat month for SugarHouse saw the Philadelphia-area casino post over $26 million in monthly revenue thanks in large part to $10 million in table game revenue. Only Sands relies more heavily on table games, as they account for nearly 40 percent of SugarHouse’s monthly revenue.

Harrah’s Philadelphia

• Slot revenue: $18,183,322.50 (-3.31 percent)
• Table game revenue: $5,050,332 (-6.69 percent)
• Total gaming revenue: $23,233,654 (-4.07 percent)

After declines in slot and table game revenue, Harrah’s was passed by Meadows in April. The casino is now ranked sixth in the state in terms of monthly revenue.

Hollywood Casino at Penn National

• Slot revenue: $18,956,449.83 (-0.05 percent)
• Table game revenue: $3,053,136 (-0.29 percent)
• Total gaming revenue: $22,009,586 (-0.08 percent)

Despite posting YoY losses in every category, it’s more accurate to describe Hollywood Casino’s numbers as flat in April.

The Meadows Casino

• Slot revenue: $19,366,050.98 (+0.57 percent)
• Table game revenue: $4,341,278 (+52.85 percent)
• Total gaming revenue: $23,707,329 (+7.29 percent)

Meadows table game revenue was up over 50 percent in April, which led to total revenue besting last year’s mark by over seven percent.

Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs

• Slot revenue: $18,177,124.86 (-5.50 percent)
• Table game revenue: $3,504,838 (-17.06 percent)
• Total gaming revenue: $21,681,963 (-7.59 percent)

Mohegan Sun had the largest year-over-year decline of any casino in March, and only Lady Luck had a worse April. Mohegan is now eighth out of Pennsylvania’s 12 casinos in terms of revenue.

Mount Airy Casino Resort

• Slot revenue: $12,697,643.00 (+2.56 percent)
• Table game revenue: $4,917,779 (+41.26 percent)
• Total gaming revenue: $17,615,422 (+11.05 percent)

Mount Airy turned in a solid April, with revenue up an industry-best 11 percent for the month. Mount Airy was one of two casinos that saw table game revenue skyrocket in April (the aforementioned Meadows being the other).

Presque Isle Downs and Casino

• Slot revenue: $9,492,864.26 (-6.97 percent)
• Table game revenue: $1,507,981 (+15.82 percent)
• Total gaming revenue: $11,043,633 (-3.56 percent)

Not even a nearly 16 percent jump in table game revenue could keep Presque Isle out of the red in April, as slot revenue at the casino fell nearly seven percent.

Valley Forge Casino Resort

• Slot revenue: $7,400,081.97 (+8.13 percent)
• Table game revenue: $3,353,102 (+17.61 percent)
• Total gaming revenue: $10,753,184 (+10.92 percent)

Valley Forge topped $10 million in total gaming revenue for the second consecutive month. It is now just a couple hundred thousand dollars behind Presque Isle.

Lady Luck Casino Nemacolin

• Slot revenue: $2,591,889.93 (-2.28 percent)
• Table game revenue: $275,234 (-40.07 percent)
• Total gaming revenue: $2,867,124 (-7.86 percent)

After posting solid YoY gains in each of the first three months of 2017, Lady Luck finally stumbled in April, with revenue down almost eight percent.

Historical look at casino revenue in Pennsylvania