Pennsylvania Records $184.9 Million in Online Gambling Revenue in February 2024

The online gambling market in Pennsylvania is rapidly growing, which is proven by the fact that revenue smashed the records in February, even though other states recorded a year-on-year decrease in revenue.

Online gambling revenue

pennsylvania_igaming_revenue_reaches_record_dlr184_9m_in_february_According to the report, Pennsylvania generated $184.9 million in online gambling revenue in February.

Overall, the revenue was $499.1 million. Compared to the same period the previous year, an increase of 9.3% is recorded, since in February 2023 the revenue was $456.8 million. However, in January 2024, the total revenue was $464.4 million, so February recorded a decrease of 1.6%.

The main source of revenue in Pennsylvania is still retail slots which generated $202,7 million. The revenue was slightly decreased, but the growth is recorded when considering the number of slot machines decreased from 25,708 to 24,962.

Land-based table games also had a successful period, since the revenue generated from them was $76,6 million, representing an increase of 2.9%. In 2023, the Pennsylvania online gambling market reached a revenue of $131.6 million. Compared to that, total iGaming revenue grew by 40.5% to $184.9 million in 2024.

Online slots generated $125.9 million, 35.6% more than in the previous year, while online table games earned $56.6 million, which represents an increase of 56.7%. Online poker wasn’t as popular as it used to be in 2023, since it generated $2.4 million, 8.3% less than in the year before.

Industry leaders

The casino that saw the highest revenue is Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course. Its online gaming operations earned $77.3 million in February, 36.8% more than in the same month of 2023.

The second place took Valley Forge Casino Resort, which generated $44,8 million. The casino operations saw significant growth since the revenue increased by 63.0%. Rivers Casino Philadelphia took the third place, with $29.3 million and an increase of 11.4%.

Sports betting revenue

On the other hand, sports betting isn’t as popular as it used to be in 2023. When it comes to total revenue, it decreased by 30.0% annually, and in February 2024 it was $30.3 million. The online betting sector saw $28.2 million, and retail revenue was $2.1 million.

However, the total handle increased by 10.4%, and in February it was $661.7 million, while in 2023 that number was $599.5 million.

A leader in the sports betting industry was Valley Forge Casino Resort and its partner FanDuel that earned 17.7 million in revenue. The second was Hollywood Casino at the Meadows and DraftKings, with $7.7 million in revenue, and Hollywood Casino Morgantown and BetMGM were the third with $1.2 million. Video lottery terminals saw a decline of 2.4%, with a revenue of $3.2 million, and fantasy sports decreased by 5.2% to $1.3 million.

Source: Fletcher, Robert. “Pennsylvania iGaming revenue reaches record $184.9m in February”. iGaming Business. March 20, 2024.

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IGT Records Revenue Growth, Net Profit Decreases

One of the leading companies in the industry, International Game Technology (IGT), published its financial report, which demonstrated a net profit decrease compared to 2023. However, the revenue was $4.31 billion (£3.37bn/€3.94bn), which represents a growth of 2.0%, following a recorded $4.23 billion in 2023.

Successful year and plans for 2024

net_profit_dips_despite_revenue_growth_at_igt_in_2023_ (1)Global Gaming and PlayDigital businesses were major reasons for the increase in revenue, while Global Lottery’s results dropped down. However, the lottery business performed better in Q4 than was the case during the whole year, following the success of other departments.

Vince Sadusky, the company’s CEO, commented: “We delivered a strong finish to the year in the fourth quarter, propelling full-year 2023 profits to record levels. A compelling array of products and solutions fuelled broad-based momentum in key performance indicators, driving margin improvement across our Global Lottery, Global Gaming, and PlayDigital segments.”

IGT conducted a restructure in February when Global Gaming and PlayDigital merged with another industry giant, Everi. The operations in total cost $6.20bn. IGT will own a majority of shares, 54%, while Everi will possess 46%. The merger is expected to be finished by the end of 2024 or at the beginning of 2025 when Everi will be renamed.

Sadusky said: “We believe the recent determination to split the business and create separate lottery and gaming pure-play companies, each with experienced management teams and simplified business models, better positions each company to service customers and create significant value for stakeholders.”

Revenue growth

In the past year, IGT’s revenue grew. Product sales revenue was incredibly high – $963 million, which is 11.2% higher than in 2022. However, service revenue decreased by 0.4%, so the company generated $3.35 billion.

Global Lottery was the main source of revenue in 2023, even though the decrease is noticed since it generated $2.53 billion in revenue in 2023. As the main reason for this drop, the company listed a sale of a commercial services business in Italy. If it remained part of the company, a growth of 6% would be recorded.

Global Gaming also achieved significant growth since its operations increased by 9.1% to $1.55 billion. PlayDigital’s revenue also increased by 9.1% to $228 million, which broke the record when it came to this division.

The operations cost $3.31 billion, and services were $1.63 billion. However, non-operating costs increased to $372 million, which is 11.7% higher than in 2023. This means that the profit before paying taxes was $629 million, which represents a 6.8% increase compared to the year before. The company paid $322 million for taxes and $151 million for non-controlling interests, so the net profit was $156 million, which is $156 million lower than in 2022 when the profit was $275 million, so a decrease of 43.3% is recorded. But despite that, adjusted EBITDA was $1.78 billion, which is an increase of 6.9%, and hit the record when it comes to this figure.

Max Chiara, the company’s CFO, said: “We achieved all of our financial goals in 2023. Robust cash generation funded incremental investments in the business and shareholder returns, while driving leverage to historically low levels, putting IGT in a strong financial position as we enter 2024. This gives us confidence in further expanding our investment in the business to fund future growth.”

Source: Fletcher, Robert. “Net profit dips despite revenue growth at IGT in 2023”. iGaming Business. March 12, 2024.

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Spanish Online Gambling Market Records an Increase of €315.3m in Q4

The Spanish online gambling market is growing, and according to the recently published report, the online gambling revenue in the country grew to €315.3 million (£269.8m/$342.0m) during the fourth quarter of 2023, which represents an increase of 0.6% compared to the fourth quarter of 2022. The total deposits increased as well.

Most popular games

spain_online_gambling_revenue_edges_up_to_e315_3m_in_q4But the growth hasn’t been noticed only on an annual level – compared to the third quarter, gross gaming revenue increased by 3.6%.

The main source of revenue was casinos, and it seems its popularity among the Spanish players is increasing even further over time. Casinos brought in €171.3 million, which is 54.3% of the total revenue earned in the fourth quarter in the whole of Spain. The popularity of slot games increased in this key European market, so the revenue generated from slot games increased by 25.9%, while live roulette games earned 15.3% more than was the case before.

Sports betting was also incredibly popular among Spanish players. According to iGaming Business, the revenue generated from sports betting was €114.7 million, which is 36.4% of the total amount collected. Poker generated €25.4 million, which is 8.1% of total revenue.

On the other hand, it seems that poker tournaments aren’t as popular as they used to be. A decrease of 0.5% was recorded compared to the previous period, while poker cash had a negative variation rate of 7.0%.

Spanish players love bingo as well, so bingo generated €3.8 million, which is 1.2% of the total revenue. On top of that, contests earned about €50,000.

Deposits and marketing activities

Players were willing to spend a lot of money on various online gambling activities, so the total was €1.04 billion when it comes to the money the players deposited in their accounts during the fourth quarter, which marks an increase of 9.4% compared to the same period in 2022.

There were 1,269,585 active accounts every month on average, which is 6.9% more than in 2022. But it seems these revenue figures were pulled by old players, since the number of new accounts created dropped by 2.3%, as the monthly average was 129,207 accounts.

The operators have spent €113.0 million on various marketing activities, which is 5.3% more than in 2022. Promotions took €53.0 million, €45.2 million was spent on advertising, while €14.0 million was spent on affiliates. Sponsorships took €750,000.

In Q4, Spain recorded 78 licensed active operators. A total of 49 were licensed for casino games, 43 for sports betting services, nine of them offered poker, three bingo games, and two contests.

Source: Fletcher, Robert. “Spain: online gambling revenue edges up to €315.3m in Q4”. iGB. February 27, 2024.

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Wyoming Registers New Sports Betting Records in October

wyoming-smashes-online-sports-betting-records-in-october-Wyoming, the American state that is widely known as the “Equality State”, has registered new records in the month of October 2023 when it comes to its regulated online sports betting market.

Bettors in the state wagered 21.2 million dollars in October using licensed online bookmakers, an amount which is an all-time high since the state opened its legal online betting market.

The previous record set in the American state was 19.2 million dollars, and it was set in September 2023. Moreover, the figure registered in October 2023 represents an increase of 23.4 percent compared to the same month of 2022.

Gross gaming revenue also registered an all-time high of 2.3 million dollars, an increase of 15 percent year-on-year and 53.3 percent compared to the 1.5 million that were generated in September 2023.

Taxable gaming revenue also set a new record in October, amounting to 1.4 million dollars. That figure represents an increase of 21.7 percent from October 2022 and no less than 172.6 percent when compared to September 2023, when the total taxable gaming revenue in Wyoming amounted to just over half a million dollars.

DraftKings On Top of The Market

The most successful online bookmaker in Wyoming in October was DraftKings, with revenue of 1.4 million dollars and a handle of 12.5 million dollars. FanDuel ended the month in second place with revenue of 402,961 dollars and a handle of 4.9 million dollars.

BetMGM grabbed the final podium place with revenue of 387,344 dollars from a handle of 3.5 million dollars, while Caesars was in fourth place with revenue of just 73,028 dollars from a handle of 378,622 dollars.

The Wyoming onlines sports betting market is set to become more competitive as Fanatics Betting and Gaming will join the fray after having taken control of PointsBet Wyoming LLC.

Fanatics Betting and Gaming is a division of Fanatics, the global sports retail giant, and it has struck a deal to acquire the United States operations of PointsBet earlier this year. The purchase price was 225 million dollars and it was approved by the PointsBet shareholders.

However, the effective transfer of the operations to Fanatics Betting and Gaming will only happen when the operator will receive all necessary approvals in each state. Fanatics Betting and Gaming has so far rolled out its online sportsbook in Virginia following the acquisition of PointsBet U.S.

Source: “Wyoming smashes online sports betting records in October“. iGaming Business. November 23, 2023.

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MGM Tops Las Vegas Records, Unveils New $2B Share Buyback Plan

MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) announced Wednesday that its fourth-quarter and full-year 2022 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, restructuring or rent costs (EBITDAR), and revenue set new records in Las Vegas and throughout its regional portfolio.

MGM buyback
MGM CEO Bill Hornbuckle, seen here in 2020. The company reported strong Q4 results and announced a new $2B billion buyback plan. (Image: Bloomberg)

The Bellagio operator said it earned 69 cents a share in the final three months of 2022 on revenue of $3.6 billion. Earnings per share (EPS) tripled while sales jumped 18%. MGM posted a consolidated adjusted EBITDAR of $957 million in the fourth quarter.

On the Las Vegas Strip, where it’s the largest operator, MGM’s revenue rose 27% to $2.3 billion, underscoring the benefits of the addition of the Cosmopolitan to the operator’s roster. MGM’s Las Vegas adjusted property EBITDAR in the fourth quarter swelled to $877 million from $699 million a year earlier.

At its regional venues, which include casino hotels in Maryland, Massachusetts, and Michigan, among other states, MGM posted net sales of $991 million, compared with $900 million a year earlier, as adjusted property EBITDAR increased to $320 million from $309 million.

MGM Extends Buyback Binge

Already one of the gaming industry’s most dedicated buyers of its own shares, MGM continued gobbling up its stock in 2022 as the operator bought 76 million of its shares.

Our share buyback program continues to return capital to shareholders as we have already repurchased 4 million shares for $164 million year-to-date, adding to the 76 million shares we repurchased in 2022 and totaling approximately $4.7 billion since 2021. Beyond this, our Board of Directors authorized an additional $2 billion for share buybacks,” said CFO Jonathan Halkyard in a statement.

Based on Wednesday’s closing price of $41.43, $2 billion would buy more than 48 million shares of MGM equity, meaning the current shares outstanding tally of 393.30 million would be significantly reduced.

News of MGM’s new share repurchase program arrived after implementing a 1% buyback last year.   President Biden wants to quadruple that rate to support lavish spending programs.

MGM China Back to Profitability

MGM owns nearly 56% of MGM China, and that’s a positive these days, as the Macau gaming industry is bouncing back from the negative effects of China’s lengthy zero-COVID policies.

What we accomplished in 2022 is nothing short of remarkable and is a testament to our strategic plan, scale, brand strength, talented team, loyalty program, and the diverse geographies and channels in which we operate. We believe that there is strong momentum in our business, and our 2023 outlook remains bright, driven by a robust events calendar domestically, MGM China’s rapid year-to-date return to profitability, and BetMGM’s ongoing improvement in 2023,” said CEO Bill Hornbuckle in the statement.

The casino operator controls half of BetMGM. The internet casino and online sportsbook entity is expected to turn profitable in the back half of this year. UK-based Entain Plc (OTC: GMVHY) owns the other half of that business.

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