Home / Poker News January 2013 / Pennsylvania Tops Atlantic City in Gambling Revenue
Pennsylvania Tops Atlantic City in Gambling Revenue
Posted by: Mark Baldwing - Sat, 2013-01-19 09:01
For a good few years now, New Jersey lawmakers have been ringing the alarm bell regarding the way neighboring states were poaching clients from Atlantic City casinos. The numbers have finally come in and they indeed prove the above said officials, spearheaded by Sen. Raymond Lesniak – who has already sponsored two bills aimed at legalizing and regulating
online poker and online gambling in the state – were indeed right: New Jersey is no longer the second largest gambling destination in the US: that position went to Pennsylvania, the state most often brought up as New Jersey’s biggest competitor in this respect.
Gambling revenues shot up a massive 4.4% in 2012 in Pennsylvania, compared to 2011, which meant that around $3.16 billion was generated in gambling revenues last year.
In the meantime, New Jersey was only able to pull in around $3.05 billion, clearly less than its toughest competitor. What’s even more impressive about Pennsylvania’s gambling success-story is the fact that the state has only been on the gambling scene for 6 years. It now only trails Nevada in revenues and consequently in popularity amongst gamblers as well.
The most spectacular revenue-increase from 2011 to 2012 was registered by table games such as poker and blackjack, which generated 11% more money than in 2011. Slots showed a decent, albeit much less impressive growth of 2.7% too.
Pennsylvania enjoys several advantages over New Jersey, stemming from its strong economic foundations (much less ravaged by recent natural disasters than those of New Jersey) and a population of 12.5 million, which not only make the state an attractive location casino investments-wise, but would also make intra-state online poker a much more attractive and financially feasible proposition too.
Thus far, all Pennsylvania-based casino projects have been successful.
