All About Pennsylvania Sports Betting Handle And Revenue

By Christopher Boan

@cgboan

October 17, 2025 05:02pm

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, September vs. August

The doldrums of summer officially gave way to the promise of autumn for sports betting operators and regulators alike in the Keystone State.

According to financial figures that the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board posted on Oct. 17, Pennsylvania had a total sports betting handle of $850,549,347 last month, up 65.0% from August ($515,446,826). And for online operators, the handle (or amount bet) was $810,134,651 for September, a 65.3% increase from $490,042,546 the previous month.

But that surge in betting handle did not lead to greater revenue for sportsbooks, as bettors had a decent month. Pennsylvania’s gross sports betting revenue (taxable) dropped 39.5% in a month-over-month comparison, from $49,151,040 in August to $29,735,588. And taxable revenue derived from sports betting was $24,353,553 in September, a 46.4% decline from $45,423,605 in the previous month, as payouts took a dent out of a high number of wagers in September.

The overall hold percentage (the amount that operators have left after paying out winnings) was just 3%, far lower than the typical 6% to 10% range. As the month-by-month chart below shows, sports betting is more volatile than Pennsylvania online casinos in terms of producing revenue.

That slide in sports betting revenue corresponded directly with the state’s tax revenue from sports wagering, which was $10,110,100 in September, down 39.5% from August ($16,711,354). The taxes from online betting fell from $15,444,026 the previous month to $8,280,208 for September.

Pennsylvania Mobile Sports Betting History