Online Poker an Afterthought as Pennsylvania Gambling Revenue Tops $400M in August

Pennsylvania gambling revenue has again exceeded $400 million in one month. The king of online poker is still PokerStars (Image: PokerStars) Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board Executive Director Kevin O’Toole said the strength of Pennsylvania’s gambling market should attract more online gambling operators. He credited the emergence of online gambling in Pennsylvania as the reason that the $400 million mark should be the expectation.

But online poker wasn’t mentioned once during the Sept. 15, board meeting.

“Reaching that plateau of $400 million a month in gaming revenues on a consistent basis reflects that such an accomplishment is now the norm,” he said in his report for August. “Additionally, with this record of generating gaming revenue, brings Pennsylvania more and more companies that want to participate in our jurisdiction in the online gaming and sports wagering markets.”

The full report will be released by Pennsylvania’s Gambling Control Board sometime next week, which will break down online poker earnings for August. Poker as an afterthought?

July’s online poker revenues show that PokerStars’ market share continues to erode as Pennsylvania’s online poker market expands.

Mt. Airy, PokerStars partner casino, paid $10 million for its online gambling license, which included sports and casino gambling. PokerStars, operating in Pennsylvania for 18 months now, already generated more than $56 million. Not a bad bet, is it?

In the last four months, three new sites began operating in Pennsylvania: BetMGM, Borgata, and WSOP. They have eaten into PokerStar’s revenue while increasing Pennsylvania’s overall poker revenue slightly.

In July, PokerStars pulled-in $2 million, BetMGM $290,000, WSOP $240,000, and Borgata, $84,000, bringing total poker revenue to $2.6 million. BetMGM and Borgata combine their player pool using partypoker software, with only the “skins” being different.

It’s going to be interesting to see just how large Pennsylvania’s online poker market can grow. PokerStars’ revenue peaked in April 2020 at $5.2 million. To compare, New Jersey’s July online poker revenue was $3.1 million, but hit $4.8 million in June, beating Pennsylvania despite having 2 million fewer players who are eligible to play online poker.

Online poker players could be the beneficiaries of more competition in the Pennsylvania poker market. Already, WSOP and PokerStars have run competing online series, with guarantees in the millions this month. The WSOP lost money on several of these events by having to overlay $22,000 across […]

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