Penn generates $500,000 in first fortnight of legal betting
Pennsylvania has revealed that the Hollywood Casino’s William Hill-powered sportsbook offering generated $508,996.60 (£402,296.60/€446,417.05) of revenue for its first two weeks after launch.
The sum was generated over the first 15 days of legal sports betting in the state, ending November 30, according to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB). This included two ten-hour test days on November 15 and 16, before the Penn National Gaming-owned venue (pictured) was given the green light for the full roll-out.
Sports betting handle reached $1.4m over the reporting period, which suggests customers won $905,589.95, for a particularly high hold of 36%. This will decline as more venues roll out legal wagering.
From the $508,996.60 in revenue, the state generated $183,238.77 in tax. This comprised $173,058.84 from the 34% state tax on gross revenue, and $10,179.93 from the local share assessment, which sees 2% of gross revenue go to the local authority in which the casino is located.
December’s figures will include contributions from Pittsburgh’s Rivers Casino and the Philadelphia-based SugarHouse Casino. Each venue officially launched sports betting on December 15, following a two-day testing period on December 13 and 14.
The PGCB also reported an 11.7% month-on-month increase in revenue from state’s regulated daily fantasy sports market. Total revenue grew to $3.2m, largely due to the improved performance of the vertical’s leading brands, DraftKings and FanDuel.
DraftKings saw revenue grow 13.2% from October to $1.7m, while FanDuel reported a 13.6% increase to $1.4m. Together the market-leaders accounted for 97.8% of total fantasy sports revenue generated in November.
DRAFT came in third, with revenue of $46,570.08 representing a 27.3% month-on-month increase, after October’s third-placed Sportshub Technologies saw revenue plummet from $41,571.73 to just $1,297.20. This decline helped Yahoo Fantasy Sports climb to fourth place in the market, despite seeing revenue decline 6.0%.
For the month, seven of the state’s nine licensed daily fantasy sports operators paid total taxes of $486,174.15. Two of the nine, Full Time Fantasy Sports and Fantasy Football Players Championship, were inactive over the month.