Sands Table Play Up 12.6% as Rest of Pa. Drops

Revenue from table games at the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem continued to climb in February, even while overall statewide revenue figures declined, according to the monthly report issued Monday by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.

The Sands generated $12 million in gross revenue from table games in February, as opposed to $10.7 million in February 2012, an increase of 12.6 percent. The Sands has led all Pennsylvania casinos in table games play for 14 months running.

But coupled with a 7 percent drop in slot machine revenue in February, overall revenue for the month at the South Bethlehem casino declined from $36 million to $35.5 million, or about 1.3 percent.

Statewide, table games revenue declined from $56.5 million in February 2012 to $55.3 million a month ago. A 2.1 percent statewide drop in revenue happened even though the new Valley Forge Casino Resort brought in $2.4 million and the number of gaming tables in Pennsylvania increased by 7.4 percent.

Statewide, table games revenue generated nearly $8 million in tax revenue in February, the gaming control board said.

Coupled with figures on slot machine revenue released earlier this month, overall gross revenue from both slots and tables was $251,293,452 this February compared with $272,244,678 in February of last year, a decrease of 7.7 percent.

The gaming control board blamed some of that decline on the fact that February 2012 had 29 days and last month had 28.