[toc]This year, more often than not, the revenue reports out of Pennsylvania casinos do not inspire much confidence.
However, November produced happy news for the casinos. Slot revenue was up $2 million year-over-year last month.
November an improvement over 2016 with fewer slot machines
The $2 million difference between this year and last year represents a 1.1 percent overall increase this year over last year. To get specific, November 2016 took in $179,399,604. Last month, the 12 properties generated $181,329,655 from slot machines.
What is worth noting is that they did this with fewer operational slot machines than last year too. This year, the daily operational slots in the state numbered 25,827. In 2016, that number was 26,406.
With the new gambling expansion laws, the number of slot machines is going to get quite a bit bigger thanks to satellite casinos. Which begs the question how that will impact these numbers come 2018 and 2019?
Parx and Sands still top dogs
As usual, Parx and Sands Bethlehem were the top performing casinos of the month. Parx took in $30.2 million, while Sands generated $24.1 million. Both were up .77 percent over last year.
Those two were the biggest earners, but other casinos saw bigger jumps this month compared to last November. Mount Airy experienced the biggest leap of all, growing 12.5 percent year-over-year, with almost $21 million this month compared to $19.8 million last year.
Meanwhile, Rivers Casino continues to narrow the gap between itself and the top two properties. Slot revenue for the Pittsburgh-area property was up 5.9 percent and once again over $20 million.
Valley Forge reaping the benefits of the new laws already?
In the first full month of operation since the state passed its new gambling laws, Valley Forge also saw a substantial year-over-year uptick. The casino took in $6.2 million compared to $6 million last year, translating into a bump of four percent.
It is not surprising to see Valley Forge’s numbers go up. The casino immediately ponied up $1 million to the state to eliminate the $10 resort fee for customers to enter.
Removing the amenity fee should result in sustained, increased traffic at the property. Valley Forge was one of two casinos whose license categorization necessitated the fee. The other one, Lady Luck Nemacolin, still has the fee in place.
Lady Luck was one of four casinos whose slot numbers dipped year-over-year. Last year, the property took in $2.18 million. This year, revenue was down to $2.12 million, a decrease of 2.6 percent.
The other properties trending downward this month were The Meadows, Mohegan Sun, and Presque Isle.
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