As online casinos in Pennsylvania experienced a record-breaking year for revenues, and the trends established during the pandemic show no signs of slowing down, it is safe to assume that growth in this sector should continue for the foreseeable future.
The past 12 months have been challenging for many industries, yet there were some outliers that managed to gain traction in spite of the adverse conditions caused by COVID-19.
Pennsylvania’s online casino sector is the perfect example of this, with record-breaking revenues of almost $900 million generated. So what gave web-based gambling services the edge, and what does the future of this lucrative industry hold?
Perfect timing
While online casinos are effectively outlawed in the majority of states, Pennsylvania became one of the few places to actively encourage this industry, with legalization pushed through in 2017. In retrospect, this was a savvy move that coincided perfectly with the growing demand for legitimate online gambling options, further catalyzed by the pandemic.
Today, the best PA online casino sites at casinos.us are still riding high on the influx of new customers that were introduced to the concept of web-based play, specifically because of the quarantine conditions that were imposed in 2020.
This was compounded by the fact that even as restrictions began to ease, the land-based casinos which opened up again were still required to keep capacities lower than normal to ensure customer safety. For lots of people, it was simply more convenient and appealing to keep up their online casino exploits rather than rushing back to bricks and mortar venues that remained hamstrung by the still-evolving coronavirus crisis.
Mutual support
Another offshoot of the online gambling craze combined with the pandemic is that land-based casinos themselves were able to survive the worst of the economic impact of 2020 because they are necessarily linked with their web-based counterparts.
The law requires that online casinos are owned and backed by operators with a physical presence in the state, so when customers were not able to play in person, the casinos they might normally have visited were still making money digitally.
Further good news is that now that land-based casinos in Pennsylvania are open again and have been for some time, customers have been returning in large numbers, leading to overall record revenues across the industry of $3.9 billion.
This indicates that online casinos do not steal customers away from bricks-and-mortar venues. Instead, there is a mutually beneficial relationship between these two arenas, with the former introducing consumers to the latter and vice versa.
Casino sites and apps allow residents of Pennsylvania to play slots and table games wherever they are, and yet this convenient experience is not in direct competition with that of a real-world casino visit. Thus the two can co-exist without clashing, and casino operators can enjoy the most of this win-win situation.
Tax benefits & other advantages
From a taxpayer’s perspective, the rise of online casinos in particular and the gambling industry more generally in Pennsylvania can also be seen as a good thing. By legalizing and regulating this industry, the authorities can generate tax revenues worth millions every year, which can, in turn, be used to fund all sorts of public services that benefit residents whether or not they use casino services.
Meanwhile, in other states where legalization has yet to take place, people who want to use online casinos are forced to rely on overseas sites which are neither regulated domestically nor obliged to pay tax in the US. This means that it makes little sense for states to procrastinate over the issue of legalizing online gambling since consumers will find a way around any preventative measures, and tax can be collected once the industry is legitimized.
Consumers can also benefit from legal protections when playing on legal sites that are based in the US, rather than having to take a risk when using overseas services, so again, this is a win-win for all involved.
Future prospects
As online casinos in Pennsylvania experienced a record-breaking year for revenues, and the trends established during the pandemic show no signs of slowing down, it is safe to assume that growth in this sector should continue for the foreseeable future.
This is not just down to traditional casino games but also to the rise of sports betting at online and land-based outlets. The $309 million generated by this type of activity over the past financial year is undeniably impressive, and Pennsylvania will contribute a small but significant slice to this $100 billion global market.
So the future for casinos and gambling in all forms is bright, and the tax dollars it pumps into public coffers can do even more good.
