All About Pennsylvania Sports Betting Handle And Revenue

By Editorial Staff

January 7, 2025 12:21pm

The experts at PennStakes.com assembled this guide to explain the terms surrounding Pennsylvania sports betting financial figures. These include the terms handle, revenue, gross revenue, and tax collections. It's worth noting this doesn't encompass the entire PA online gambling market but just sports betting specifically.

The sports betting market in Pennsylvania includes retail sportsbooks at the commonwealth’s casinos as well as mobile sports betting apps.

Overall, Pennsylvania has a sweeping array of legalized gambling options. The commonwealth has legalized traditional casino gambling and online casino gambling (slots and table games); sports wagering, both in-person and online; live and internet poker; video gambling terminals at truck stops; and fantasy sports. Pennsylvania also has horse racing and the lottery but those financial results are not included in the commonwealth’s monthly gaming report. 

In sports betting language, handle is the terms for all sports wagers placed in the state during any month (or year). The handle is broken down into retail bets, placed in person, or online handle. In Pennsylvania, bettors wager hundreds of millions of dollars each month. The vast majority of those bets are placed by people using online Pennsylvania sportsbook apps via computers or mobile devices, such as smart phones.

Revenue is what is left to the gambling operators after winnings are paid out. However, many states allow deductions resulting from promotions and bonuses to customers from the revenue total before the tax rate is applied. In Pennsylvania, the taxable revenue is called Gross Revenue in the commonwealth’s financial reports. 

In Pennsylvania, sports betting Gross Revenue is taxed at a relatively high tax rate of 36% (34% state & 2% local). But operators can deduct promotions and bonuses to customers before the tax rate is applied.

In Pennsylvania, retail sports gambling began in 2018 and online sports wagering began in 2019.

Pennsylvania Sports Betting, March vs. February

Pennsylvania Sports Betting Handle and Revenue: March 2024

The arrival of March Madness helped produced record-breaking total gaming revenue and sizable month-over-month improvements in sports betting and iGaming handle in the Keystone State last month.

Overall, March’s total gaming revenue figure between sports betting, iGaming and casino finished up at $554,625,294. That was 11.1% higher than February’s total of $499,093,210 and knocking off December 2023’s total of $534,215,808 as the state’s all-time recordholder.

As for Pennsylvania sports betting, the Keystone State’s total handle of $800,718,332 represented a 21% jump from February’s total of $661,740,812, according to figures reported by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.

The gross sports betting revenue (taxable) rose 50.7% in a month-over-month comparison, from $30,252,627 in February to $45,581,570 last month. As far as taxes were concerned, Pennsylvania sports betting chipped in $15,497,734 in March, with $14,392,932 of that coming from the state’s mobile wagering operators, capping off a memorable month in the Keystone State.

As far as casino highlights, Pennsylvania brought in a record $135,519,554 in interactive slots gross revenue, up 7.7% from February. That was the second month in a row that this category reset its state revenue record.

Pennsylvania Mobile Sports Betting History