HARRISBURG, PA, Jan. 25, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pennsylvania Skill, powered by Pace-O-Matic (POM), congratulates the state gaming industry which ended 2023 with an all-time record high of $5.7 billion in revenue.
The overall revenue boost represents a 9.3% increase from 2022.
Retail slots revenue of $2.5 billion contributed the most to the record-breaking number and Parx Casino raked in the most money from slots with an annual total of $386.2 million.
Ironically, casinos led by Parx say legal skill games compete with their slot machine revenue when the facts show a much different picture. As the skill game industry has grown in the state, so have the earnings of casino slot machines.
“Here we are again congratulating Pennsylvania’s casino industry on record profits,” said POM’s Chief Public Affairs Officer, Mike Barley. “It’s time for casinos to stop lobbing attacks against skill games. These revenue numbers are the latest proof that skill games have no impact on casinos’ bottom line. Any assertion otherwise is either misguided or intentionally misleading.”
The gaming industry’s opposition to skill games threatens the livelihoods of small businesses, fraternal organizations, volunteer fire companies and veterans groups throughout Pennsylvania. The income generated by skill games creates jobs, and locations say they use the revenue to pay bills, boost wages, make business updates, provide charitable donations, and more.
Skill game supporters are urging lawmakers to pass legislation that will regulate and tax skill games to benefit the entire commonwealth.
“How often do industries come to the legislature asking to be regulated,” asked Barley. “We want lawmakers to look past this harmful narrative spun by the casinos – that is not backed by facts – and support small businesses by passing commonsense regulation of skill games.”
Regulating and taxing skill games would not only support locations with the games, which include restaurants, bars, taverns, fire halls, VFWs, American Legion posts, and others, but it would also generate an estimated $250 million in annual tax revenue for the Commonwealth.
In addition to providing supplemental income to small businesses, Pennsylvania Skill games are manufactured in the state, and most of the income they generate stays within the local economy.
