The experts at PennStakes.com assembled this guide to explain the terms surrounding Pennsylvania sports betting financial figures. These include the terms handle, revenue, gross revenue, and tax collections.
The sports betting market in Pennsylvania includes retail sportsbooks at the commonwealth’s casinos as well as mobile sports betting apps.
Overall, Pennsylvania has a sweeping array of legalized gambling options. The commonwealth has legalized traditional casino gambling and online casino gambling (slots and table games); sports wagering, both in-person and online; live and internet poker; video gambling terminals at truck stops; and fantasy sports. Pennsylvania also has horse racing and the lottery but those financial results are not included in the commonwealth’s monthly gaming report.
In sports betting language, handle is the terms for all sports wagers placed in the state during any month (or year). The handle is broken down into retail bets, placed in person, or online handle. In Pennsylvania, bettors wager hundreds of millions of dollars each month. The vast majority of those bets are placed by people using online Pennsylvania sportsbook apps via computers or mobile devices, such as smart phones.
Revenue is what is left to the gambling operators after winnings are paid out. However, many states allow deductions resulting from promotions and bonuses to customers from the revenue total before the tax rate is applied. In Pennsylvania, the taxable revenue is called Gross Revenue in the commonwealth’s financial reports.
In Pennsylvania, sports betting Gross Revenue is taxed at a relatively high tax rate of 36% (34% state & 2% local). But operators can deduct promotions and bonuses to customers before the tax rate is applied.
In Pennsylvania, retail sports gambling began in 2018 and online sports wagering began in 2019.
The arrival of March Madness helped produced record-breaking total gaming revenue and sizable month-over-month improvements in sports betting and iGaming handle in the Keystone State last month.
Overall, March’s total gaming revenue figure between sports betting, iGaming and casino finished up at $554,625,294. That was 11.1% higher than February’s total of $499,093,210 and knocking off December 2023’s total of $534,215,808 as the state’s all-time recordholder.
As for Pennsylvania sports betting, the Keystone State’s total handle of $800,718,332 represented a 21% jump from February’s total of $661,740,812, according to figures reported by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.
The gross sports betting revenue (taxable) rose 50.7% in a month-over-month comparison, from $30,252,627 in February to $45,581,570 last month. As far as taxes were concerned, Pennsylvania sports betting chipped in $15,497,734 in March, with $14,392,932 of that coming from the state’s mobile wagering operators, capping off a memorable month in the Keystone State.
As far as casino highlights, Pennsylvania brought in a record $135,519,554 in interactive slots gross revenue, up 7.7% from February. That was the second month in a row that this category reset its state revenue record.
Month | Handle | Revenue | Hold | Taxes |
---|---|---|---|---|
March 2024 | $759,445,204 | $42,332,151 | 5.57% | $14,392,932 |
February 2024 | $627,486,195 | $28,153,836 | 4.49% | $9,572,304 |
January 2024 | $808,788,638 | $66,006,125 | 8.16% | $22,442,083 |
December 2023 | $870,372,393 | $67,163,802 | 7.72% | $22,835,693 |
November 2023 | $876,754,839 | $10,319,155 | 1.18% | $3,508,513 |
October 2023 | $773,164,248 | $68,534,569 | 8.86% | $14,638,165 |
September 2023 | $672,861,548 | $32,059,955 | 4.76% | $10,900,385 |
August 2023 | $367,172,895 | $19,284,292 | 5.25% | $6,556,659 |
July 2023 | $316,089,466 | $29,127,043 | 9.21% | $9,903,195 |
June 2023 | $349,359,460 | $23,060,075 | 6.60% | $7,840,425 |
May 2023 | $460,189,894 | $37,060,046 | 8.05% | $12,600,416 |
April 2023 | $536,265,702 | $34,484,558 | 6.43% | $11,724,750 |
March 2023 | $667,464,497 | $45,733,874 | 6.85% | $15,549,517 |
February 2023 | $555,793,862 | $38,489,715 | 6.93% | $13,086,503 |
January 2023 | $719,700,379 | $36,249,550 | 5.04% | $12,324,847 |
December 2022 | $704,782,411 | $48,156,269 | 6.83% | $16,373,132 |
November 2022 | $735,523,025 | $48,219,768 | 6.56% | $16,394,721 |
October 2022 | $732,359,162 | $34,445,397 | 4.70% | $11,711,435 |
September 2022 | $596,714,671 | $42,966,088 | 7.20% | $14,608,470 |
August 2022 | $333,098,950 | $30,287,441 | 9.09% | $10,297,730 |
July 2022 | $311,525,077 | $22,640,799 | 7.27% | $7,697,872 |
June 2022 | $363,964,491 | $11,446,095 | 3.14% | $3,891,672 |
May 2022 | $457,947,928 | $32,257,435 | 7.04% | $10,967,528 |
April 2022 | $536,143,163 | $30,710,859 | 5.73% | $10,441,692 |
March 2022 | $666,981,930 | $25,432,212 | 3.81% | $8,646,952 |
February 2022 | $558,109,050 | -$1,470,686 | -0.26% | -$500,033 |
January 2022 | $737,442,937 | $26,384,213 | 3.58% | $8,970,633 |
December 2021 | $693,270,171 | $16,061,264 | 2.32% | $5,460,830 |
November 2021 | $704,074,632 | $55,047,508 | 7.82% | $18,716,153 |
October 2021 | $714,094,431 | $18,483,937 | 2.59% | $6,284,538 |
September 2021 | $527,438,189 | $21,043,239 | 3.99% | $7,154,701 |
August 2021 | $318,131,156 | $14,700,513 | 4.62% | $4,998,174 |
July 2021 | $275,449,861 | $17,162,609 | 6.23% | $5,835,287 |
June 2021 | $379,267,760 | $29,288,710 | 7.72% | $9,958,161 |
May 2021 | $407,398,753 | $22,505,210 | 5.52% | $7,651,771 |
April 2021 | $439,065,648 | $21,488,320 | 4.89% | $7,306,029 |
March 2021 | $514,336,353 | $25,981,515 | 5.05% | $8,833,715 |
February 2021 | $469,708,926 | $13,408,365 | 2.85% | $4,558,844 |
January 2021 | $579,941,653 | $29,939,668 | 5.16% | $10,179,487 |
December 2020 | $535,209,739 | $32,892,621 | 6.15% | $11,183,491 |
November 2020 | $447,418,449 | $31,185,656 | 6.97% | $10,603,123 |
October 2020 | $472,276,003 | $30,470,256 | 6.45% | $10,359,887 |
September 2020 | $414,100,359 | $1,147,367 | 0.28% | $390,105 |
August 2020 | $321,554,131 | $15,438,273 | 4.80% | $5,249,013 |
July 2020 | $155,354,508 | $6,878,131 | 4.43% | $2,338,565 |
June 2020 | $88,313,028 | $6,759,429 | 7.65% | $2,298,206 |
May 2020 | $77,510,033 | $4,831,501 | 6.23% | $1,642,710 |
April 2020 | $46,015,988 | $2,906,633 | 6.32% | $988,255 |
March 2020 | $118,332,822 | $6,231,689 | 5.27% | $2,118,774 |
February 2020 | $294,127,503 | $4,093,728 | 1.39% | $1,391,868 |
January 2020 | $308,605,690 | $17,922,885 | 5.81% | $6,093,781 |
December 2019 | $297,445,045 | $8,396,958 | 2.82% | $2,854,966 |
November 2019 | $266,740,919 | $11,426,397 | 4.28% | $3,884,975 |
October 2019 | $198,688,269 | $10,307,158 | 5.19% | $3,504,434 |
September 2019 | $158,154,361 | $9,269,519 | 5.86% | $3,151,637 |
August 2019 | $83,209,317 | $2,540,199 | 3.05% | $863,668 |
July 2019 | $38,998,648 | $665,798 | 1.71% | $226,371 |
June 2019 | $19,326,220 | $369,133 | 1.91% | $125,505 |
May 2019 | $573,163 | $38,753 | 6.76% | $13,176 |
Total | $26,459,633,743 | $1,418,417,576 | 5.36% | $473,598,389 |
Author
The experts at PennStakes who bring you the latest updates in Pennsylvania sports betting and online casinos. We pull together decades of experience to give you analysis as well as comparisons of the best PA online gambling apps.
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