iGaming numbers released last week showed steady overall growth and Pennsylvania players’ preference for table games, a bit of a deviation in the world of online gaming. Table games attracted $274 million in wagers compared to $192 million for slots.
FanDuel Casino turned heads in January. It took $84.7 million in table games wagers. The amount is impressive by any measure, but FanDuel Casino did it in just eight days.
Prime time to start an online casino
It was a busy time for online casino launches in Pennsylvania since operators wanted to have their products available ahead of Super Bowl LIV on Feb. 2.
On Jan. 24, FanDuel, through a partnership with Valley Forge Casino and Boyd Gaming, launched its online casino. Pennsylvania represents the first state in which the company offers an online casino under the FanDuel brand.
BetAmerica soft-launched its iGaming offering on Jan. 28. The Churchill Downs-operated BetAmerica is affiliated with Presque Isle Downs & Casino in Pennsylvania. Then, BetRivers online casino debuted on Jan. 30 bumping PA’s iGaming options to eight.
It’s no secret that the Super Bowl is the most popular sporting event for bettors every year. Releasing an online casino during the week leading up to the Big Game is a no-brainer if the product is ready.
Jesse Chemtob, FanDuel’s vice president/general manager of casino told Playin Pennsylvania:
“We saw an opportunity to get out ahead of the Super Bowl knowing we would have a large influx of new and returning sportsbook customers coming to play. We wanted this new product to be there and them to experience FanDuel Casino for the first time. The week we launched was a quiet week from a sports betting perspective so it allowed us to get the soft launch off seamlessly.”
Sportsbook customers translate to casino
The three new online casinos are accessible through already established PA sportsbook apps. Since entering the Pennsylvania market in the summer of 2019, FanDuel online sportsbook has dominated. In January, they were tops in handle ($156 million) and revenue ($8 million.)
FanDuel accounts for about half of all bets placed online in Pennsylvania. Being integrated with the top-performing sportsbook was a big reason for the impressive numbers. Currently, FanDuel Casino is only available via iOS and Android, not desktop.
According to Chemtob, the majority of players at FanDuel Casino were sportsbook customers.
“Obviously, the FanDuel sportsbook customer base in PA is a good one given our position in the market. We are actively talking to the customers within the sportsbook app.”
Blackjack most popular game
FanDuel Casino now offers five table games and twelve slots.
FanDuel Casino table games:
- Blackjack
- Roulette
- European Roulette
- Blackjack Classic Touch
- French Roulette
Over eight days, table games generated $85 million in wagers which translated into 31% of the statewide total of table game wagers. In terms of revenue, table games raked in $1.7 million, more than 4.5-times that of online slots at the site. Slot revenue totaled $375,000 for the month at FanDuel.
“Not surprisingly,” said Chemtob, blackjack was the most popular game at FanDuel Casino. He added they experienced “pretty good” activity on roulette. For slots, Divine Fortune did well in January.
“We are definitely encouraged by the results so far given that we were only live the back half of the month. We were surprised how interested FanDuel sportsbook customers would be in a FanDuel Casino product in Pennsylvania. I think there is some pent-up demand in that market in particular given the limited casino offerings available to players in the state.”
Whats next for FanDuel Casino?
After a scorching start out of the gate, what does FanDuel Casino have in store for an encore?
The PA library still pales in comparison to its New Jersey counterpart. FanDuel has the fewest slot titles of any PA online casino but it didn’t stop their rapid rise.
Their two blackjack options is common but the option to play for as little as ten cents per hand is one of its more unique features.
Chemtob commented on what’s next:
“We are committed to providing a good product to our sportsbook customers in Pennsylvania. It’s obviously our first FanDuel branded casino product and we want to make sure that we are delivering a great experience to our customers. We are happy with the results so far but we are still staying humble and want to add more games and build the product.”
How other online casinos fared
January’s revenue report included seven online casinos, including newcomers FanDuel Casino and BetAmerica. It did not include BetRivers.
BetAmerica, which was live for just two days in January, posted low revenue figures. However, like at FanDuel, table games did attract more wagers ($90,273) than slots ($57,493). FanDuel and SugarHouse led the way in table games in January while SugarHouse and Hollywood continued to dominate the online slot scene.
January figures for PA online casino operators:
| Online Operator | Slot wagers | Slot revenue | Tables wagers | Tables revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SugarHouse (Rivers Philly) | $70.4 million | $2.4 million | $76 million | $1.1 million |
| Hollywood (Penn National) | $47.3 million | $2.1 million | $22.3 million | $260,000 |
| FanDuel (Valley Forge) | $9.3 million | $380,000 | $84.7 million | $1.7 million |
| Parx Casino | $32.4 million | $1.2 million | $23 million | $490,000 |
| PokerStars (Mt. Airy) | $22.1 million | $590,000 | $49.3 million | $730,000 |
| Unibet (Mohegan Sun) | $11.1 million | $500,000 | $18.7 million | $280,000 |
| BetAmerica (Presque Isle) | $57,000 | $3,000 | $90,000 | $7,000 |
| Monthly totals | $192.7 million | $7.2 million | $274 million | $4.6 million |
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