Pennsylvania casinos had their second-biggest February since the opening of the first slots parlor in November 2006, as more than $200 million stayed with the 12 casinos when gamblers left for home.
Every casino in the state saw an increase in slot machine revenue for the month, partly because of the extra day due to leap year, but mostly because a lot of money was lost by gamblers. Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board spokesman Richard McGarvey said that slot revenue increases in every casino don’t happen very often and that even without the extra day it was a big month, as reported by The Morning Call.
According to numbers released by the Gaming Control Board (pdf) on Thursday, overall, the combined take was $17 million over last year, an increase of 9.2 percent for the month. Even without adding the last day of the month, it would have still been a 6.3 percent increase for February.
The leader of the pack was Parx Casino in Bensalem with $33.1 million in revenues, followed by the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem at $25.1 million, which is an almost 14 percent increase from 2015. Of all of the 12 casinos, the biggest jump was at Mount Airy Casino in Paradise Township, Monroe County. Its $11.6 million was an increase of 22 percent over last year.
Casinos anted up $107 million in state taxes on those revenues for the month.
While there is no doubt the longer month helped to boost revenue, the increase also appears to indicate a trend that casinos statewide are on the rise. In 2012 casinos peaked, then revenue declined for two years before bouncing back in 2015 for their best year since the first slots parlor opened, Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, almost 10 years ago. It still wasn’t the biggest showing for slot machines in February ever; that happened in 2012. That was the last time gamblers were blessed with a plus-one in February.
The Gaming Control Board counted slot machine revenue from the following casinos; Mohegan Sun, Parx, Harrah’s Philadelphia, Presque Isle, The Meadows, Mount Airy, Penn National, Sands Bethlehem, Rivers, Sugar, Valley Forge, and Nemacolin.