Even though no brick-and-mortar casinos were open in April because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board still released a gaming revenue report for the month.

That's because gamblers could still access internet games of chance, and revenue figures released Monday reflected that.

April revenue for online casino-type games — which include slot machines, table games and poker — jumped 73% over the previous month, the PGCB said. The biggest increase was within the slot machine segment in which revenue more than doubled going from about $13 million in March to $27.3 million in April.

“The growth in online gambling as well as betting on non-traditional sports are industry bright spots,” said Dustin Gouker, lead analyst for PlayPennsylvania.com, in a statement. “But there just isn’t any way for Pennsylvania operators to compensate for such a dramatic loss of revenue, including at retail sportsbooks and land-based casinos, which can’t generate a single dollar right now.”

Casinos in the state have been closed since March.

Among regional gaming companies:

Wyomissing-based Penn National Gaming Inc. saw total internet games revenue of $4.5 million at HollywoodCasino.com. Broken down, internet table revenue was $491,038 and internet slots revenue was $4.06 million.
Valley Forge Casino Resort had total revenue of $7.9 million with $3.8 million for table games and $4.09 million for slots.
Harrah's Philadelphia had total revenue of $231,464, all from slots.
Parx Casino had total revenue of $4.1 million with $3.8 million from slots and $303,662 from table games.
Rivers Casino Philadelphia had total revenue of $13.7 million with $11.01 million from slots and $2.6 million for table games.
Sports wagering was down 32% over the year. April total sports wagering revenue from 13 retail and nine online outlets was $2.8 million, which was 58% lower than March total of $6.8 million.  The retail outlets were not operational during April but continued to make payouts on earlier determined wagers.

Hollywood Casino at Penn National, Oaks Race & Sportsbook and South Philly Race & Sportsbook were all closed. Everybody else either broke even or were at a loss. Valley Forge reported retail revenue of negative $245, Parx reported negative $321 and Rivers Casino Philadelphia reported negative $1,245.

“The momentum that brought records month after month for Pennsylvania’s sportsbooks has been reversed almost instantly,” said Valerie Cross, analyst for PlayPennsylvania.com. “Until sports leagues figure out a way to reopen, these dreary results will continue.”

Fantasy contests were down 91% over the year with total revenue between nine operators at $167,254.

Overall gaming revenue was down 84% in April when compared to April 2019.  Tax revenue from all forms of gaming in April was $18.3 million.

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