After one year, sports wagering tops $1B in Pa.

After one full year of legal sports betting in the state of Pennsylvania, the industry continues to grow.

The industry launched in November 2018 with one sports book operator generating $1.4 million in bets and $508,997 in gross revenue.

PlayPennsylvania.com, a website that researches and advocates for the state’s gaming industry, said since that relatively small launch, the number of casinos offering sports betting and the volume being wagered has grown dramatically.

The state has now surpassed $1 billion in wagering.

One year after the launch, there were seven sports book operators in November 2019 with the November launch of DraftKings, under The Meadows license, and Unibet, under the Mohegan Sun Pocono umbrella. Mount Airy Casino Resort and Fox Bet also launched a sports book online and at the Mount Pocono casino.

Wind Creek Casino Resort in Bethlehem does not yet offer sports betting.

All totaled, the seven online sports books generated 84.3 percent of the state’s November handle, with a total of $266.7 million, which was up from $198.7 million in October.

“Pennsylvania has come a long way in a year,” said Dustin Gouker, analyst for PlayPennsylvania.com. “Plagued with relatively high gaming taxes and early hurdles to its online launch, Pennsylvania’s future as a legal sports betting jurisdiction was murky at the beginning. But despite the issues in its infancy, the state has proven to be attractive for operators and the market is truly beginning to flourish.”

Pennsylvania taxes sports wagering at 15 percent, the highest of the states that allow sports wagering.

November continued the steady growth the industry had seen over the year, with sports betting operators accepting $316.5 million in wagers that month, up 31.2 percent from October where $241.2 million was wagered, according to the state gaming control board.

Those bets generated $20.6 million in revenue, an increase from October’s $19.1 million in revenue, and brought in $3.9 million in state taxes.