Wind Creek surpasses pre-COVID revenue with help from digital gaming, sportsbook

Wind Creek Bethlehem reported fiscal year revenue of $530.4 million, contributing to a record $5 billion for state gambling revenue.

The total beats the pre-COVID number of $523 million from the 2018-19 fiscal year, which was when Wind Creek acquired the casino from Las Vegas Sands. Those numbers only included revenue from slot machines and table games.

The figures from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board for 2021-22 also included internet gaming and sports betting, which accounted for just over $16 million, leaving slots and table games with a combined $514 million.

Broken down, Wind Creek pulled in the most revenue for table games among the state’s 16 brick-and-mortar casinos. It reported $235.8 million, for an increase of about 77% from the previous year, which was affected by the pandemic. In 2018-19, table games were at $228 million.

Wind Creek had the second-highest slots total at $278.5 million, a 25% increase over the year. It was well behind the state leader, the Parx Casino in Bucks County, which pulled in about $408 million. The 2018-19 year was more lucrative for Wind Creek, which had revenue of $295.7 from the machines.

Making a difference were iGaming and the sportsbook, which is slowly growing for Wind Creek. The Bethlehem casino is one of 10 in the state to offer digital games, and it saw an 81% increase from last year, with revenue of $14.5 million. That was way behind the state leader, Berks County-based Penn National Gaming Inc., which raked in $481.3 million, by far its most profitable segment.

Sports betting showed a profit last year for Wind Creek after it took a loss of more than $1 million in 2020-21. This past year, it had revenue of $1.4 million. Among the 18 sports books in the state, Wind Creek was near the bottom, as Valley Forge Casino in Montgomery County had the most revenue at $160 million.

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The slightly more than $5 billion in overall revenue was about 30% higher than the $3.9 billion recorded in the previous fiscal year, and slightly above the previous calendar year high of $4.7 billion reported in January.

Revenue in casinos from slot machines grew to $2.4 billion and from table games to above $1 billion.

Online gambling, in just its fourth year, grew again to pass $1.2 billion. Sports betting, in just its fifth year, added $325 million in revenue.

Pennsylvania has been neck-and-neck with New Jersey for No. 2 in commercial casino revenue behind Nevada, according to figures compiled by the American Gaming Association.

Pennsylvania is No. 1 in tax revenue from gambling, according to the association’s figures.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Morning Call reporter Evan Jones can be reached at ejones@mcall.com.

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