Table Game Revenue Reaches High Point

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board says revenues for table games in March totaled $54,606,617. That's $10 million dollars more than the previous top month, December. Table games have been operating in Pennsylvania only since July 2010 and Gaming Control Board spokesman Richard McGarvey says it is still a growing market

"March really does start to signal the point of the year where more people are going out, vacationing, and gambling. So, this is not terribly unexpected. Certainly it's a larger increase than we've seen before too. It's about a 25 percent increase, so it was a good month."

The casino that saw the lowest increase was Pittsburgh's Rivers Casino at less than one percent. However, gross revenues at the Meadows Racetrack and Casino in Washington County skyrocketed 300 percent from $1.1 million in February to nearly $4.5 million in March. McGarvey attributes this fluctuation to the games themselves.

"You really are playing some games of skill. Still some chance involved obviously in all of them, but because of that, you can have in any given month somebody or a group of people that are really big winners at the casino which effects the bottom line."

McGarvey adds that casinos are more likely to pay out at tables games than they are with slot machines. He also adds that the revenues are expected to continue to rise throughout the summer like they do in other states like New Jersey.

The top grossing gaming facility continues to be Parx Casino in Bensalem, 18 miles from Philadelphia, at $8.2 million in revenues in March.