Frigid temperatures have brought frosty casino earnings, according to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.
Total casino revenue in January was down 7 percent, or 14 million dollars compared to January of 2013. Board officials say the extreme winter weather that passed over the region last month kept many patrons out of casinos.
January saw a 1 percent decrease in revenue from table games and an 8.7 percent decline in revenue from slot machines. According to board spokesman Doug Harbach, this variation is new for the industry.
“We’ve seen a drop in table game revenue three times in the last couple of years," Harbach said. "So usually its been a rising market within the casinos, but the snow and the weather just kind of rolled the dice wrong for these casinos in the past month."
Table game revenue was down in December by 2 percent as well, though total table game revenue from 2013 increased 5 percent to $729 million.
According to Harbach, casinos generate $4 million a day and $1.4 billion a year in tax revenues. In January casinos produced $91 million in tax revenue.
Harbach doesn’t expect sunnier earnings for this month either.
“February has certainly also been a rather down month when it comes to weather so I would expect that we’ll still see some drop in some revenue numbers when they’re produced for February,” Harbach said.
