Eastern Pennsylvania Casinos Are Raking It In at the Tables

While there’s been a good deal of doom and gloom about the gaming industry around these parts in the last month, here’s some evidence that not all area gaming establishments are rolling snake eyes. The Morning Call reports on new data released by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board that says the state’s 12 casinos took in $731.8 million at table games in the most recent fiscal year, up 2.6 percent over the previous:

The state’s luck at table games like blackjack, roulette and craps come largely because of [Bethlehem’s] Sands’ continued table games dominance. Sands’ $177 million take for the year at the tables was not only a 7.2 percent increase over the previous year, it easily outpaced the $123 million brought in by second-place Parx Casino, Bensalem.

SugarHouse in Philadelphia pulled in $86 million, followed by $74.5 million at Harrah’s in Chester.

Mount Airy Casino in Paradise Township, Monroe County, brought in $42 million, and Mohegan Sun near Wilkes-Barre pulled in $44 million – both casinos posting increases for the year.

One can’t help but wonder if these heady numbers from eastern Pennsylvania casinos have something to do with the struggles of casinos in A.C. However, in a delicious bit of turnabout, the Call reports that western Pennsylvania’s casinos fared more poorly as they “were hit hard by new competition from casino gambling in Ohio.”

Of course, all of this comes just two weeks after reports that Pennsylvania’s slots revenues fell 4.5 percent over the last fiscal year (perhaps because slots are so dreadfully boring), dropping overall casino revenue in the state from $3.14 billion in 2012-13 to $3.05 billion in 2013-14.

[Morning Call | PGCB | The Sentinel]