Where Does Pennsylvania Rank Among States That Love Casinos Most?

Where Does Pennsylvania Rank Among States That Love Casinos Most?
Fact Checked by Jim Tomlin

The Pennsylvania online casinos, land-based casinos and sports betting markets have had nothing but healthy action year-over-year, and there is always more to come.

New land-based casinos, online casinos, and sportsbooks seem to always be on the horizon for the Keystone State.

Rhode Island-based Bally’s is looking to break ground and set up a new mini-casino in College Township, not far from State College. The company was recently awarded license approval from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB).

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Recent PA Casino Developments

A new Parx mini-casino just opened in Shippensburg in February. Leading up to the grand opening, on Feb. 3, the facility performed equipment testing on Jan. 23 and 24. The PGCB monthly report shows the new location generated $3.242 million in total revenue for February.

With so many states legalizing online casinos and building new land-based casinos across the country, PennStakes looked at which states love casinos and gambling – including options such as PA sportsbooks – the most.

How We Compiled Data

PennStakes used four combined data points to develop the ranking of the 50 states from most casino-loving to least. We used UNLV’s Center for Gaming Research report for the 2022 casino revenue category, Google Trends for most searches of the phrases “online casino” and “casinos near me,” and Wikipedia for casinos per capita.

For the revenue and casinos per capita categories, we gave 50 points to the top state down to one point for the bottom state. We then combined points for the two search categories into one column called “most searches” and assigned that a maximum value of 100 points.

Here are the results, featuring the top 15 states that embrace casino gaming – including sites that offer the best PA casino bonuses – the most:

Ranking of Casino-Loving States

Rank, StateCasinos Per Capita ‘22 Casino Revenue Most SearchesTotal Points
1. Nevada5050 78178
2. Mississippi454388176
3. Louisiana474581173
4. Oklahoma492893170
5. New Jersey314985165
6. New Mexico473079156
7. Michigan294185155
8. Kansas333190154
T-9. Iowa423971152
T-9. Pennsylvania 214883152
11. Missouri263874138
T-12. South Dakota482753128
T-12. New York 224660128
14. Indiana254458127
15. West Virginia193569123

Pennsylvania Tied at No. 9 For Casino Interest

Who can compete with Nevada sitting at No. 1 overall? No one. But Pennsylvania holds its own as being a very popular gambling state that pulls in big revenue numbers with only 17 land-based casinos and more on the horizon.

Land-based casinos, online casinos, mobile sports betting, video gaming terminals, and fantasy contest. Pennsylvania has it all.

Tied with Iowa at No. 9, and in the bottom top 10 for ranking, that’s a bit of a surprise. Anyone driving through the state would see that Pennsylvania seems to have casinos everywhere, and always news about future locations planned.

Pennsylvania’s top score on the chart is 83 points for most searches for casinos, coming in at No. 6. This shows the state is a popular spot to look for some gambling action.

Pennsylvania’s gambling revenue numbers show the state may be following a plan of doing more with less – fewer casinos with big revenue numbers, that is. The state is ranked No. 3 in 2022 casino revenue numbers coming from its 17 land-based casinos and online gaming.

Oklahoma has 142 land-based casinos and no online gaming and is ranked No. 14 for 2022 revenue. Of course, a huge shift is shown in casinos per capita points between the two, with Oklahoma at No. 2 and Pennsylvania ranked at No. 13.

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More On Pennsylvania’s Casino Landscape

The PGCB reported that for February Pennsylvania casino revenue, the combined total generated from all forms of gaming in the state, along with fantasy contests, was $456.838 million. That was an increase of 21.6% compared to revenue generated in February 2022.

For land-based casinos, the PGCB said there were 25,708 slot machines available in the state in February 2023, compared to 26,154 just 12 months earlier. Again, doing more with less.

Casino games offered online generated gross revenue of $131.6 million in February 2023 compared to $102.4 million in February 2022, an increase of 28.5%.

PA Land-Based Casinos With Online Gaming

  • Harrah’s Philadelphia – Caesars Sportsbook & Caesars Casino PA
  • Hollywood Casino at Penn National – Barstool Sportsbook & Casino online
  • Hollywood Casino at the Meadows - Barstool Sportsbook & Casino online
  • Hollywood Casino Morgantown - Barstool Sportsbook & Casino online
  • Hollywood Casino York - Barstool Sportsbook & Casino online
  • Lady Luck Casino Nemacolin – BetAmerica.com
  • Live! Casino Philadelphia – Play Live! Online Casino
  • Live! Casino Pittsburgh - Play Live! Online Casino
  • Mohegan Pennsylvania – Unibet Sportsbook
  • Mount Airy Casino Resort – FoxBet PA Sportsbook & MountairyCasino.com
  • Parx Casino – betPARX
  • Parx Shippensburg - betPARX
  • Presque Isle Downs and Casino – Twin Spires Casino Sports
  • River Casino Philadelphia - BetRivers
  • Rivers Casino Pittsburgh – BetRivers
  • Valley Forge Casino Resort – FanDuel PA Sportsbook & Stardust Online Casino
  • Wind Creek Bethlehem - WindCreekCasino.com
Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Must be 21+. PA only. Please Gamble Responsibly. Visit Borgata.com for T&Cs. New Customers Only. All promotions are subject to qualification and eligibility requirements. Rewards issued as non-withdrawable site credit/bonus bets unless otherwise provided in the applicable terms Rewards subject to expiry.
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Author

Keith Stein

Keith Stein is a freelance writer for PennStakes.com. He has more than 25 years experience as a journalist with a a variety of news publications and worked as a contributing writer with United Press International.

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