As MetroBet projected last month, the state of Pennsylvania posted a September handle of around $200 million. The exact figure released by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board this week was $194.5 million in bets taken and the Keystone State grabbed $19.3 million in revenue during the month. The record numbers are no surprise considering September was the first month that the state offered legal online betting on the NFL – easily the most wagered-on league in the United States.
Pennsylvania has now set records in back-to-back months as it posted a $109 million handle in August. The $85 million jump in one month is consistent with the surge that neighboring New Jersey saw last year during the fall when it launched many online books.
Legal online sportsbooks are giving away millions of dollars as they look to get sports bettors away from off-shore sites. Right now you can get up to $500 in free cash by going to FanDuel.com/Metro.
As Pennsylvania begins to offer more and more online sportsbook apps, the month-to-month handle is expected to increase – at least through the remainder of football season. New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement David Rebuck, who correctly predicted that New Jersey would seriously challenge Nevada for top billing in the online sports betting space in the United States, said this week that he believes Pennsylvania could soon be considered the sports betting mecca in the U.S..
“Pennsylvania has the opportunity to be the No. 1 jurisdiction in handle today,” Rebuck told Gambling.com at the Global Gaming Expo in Vegas. “I say that because they’ve got 12 million people and two big cities. They have no restrictions on NCAA events. They also border on states that don’t have sports betting.”
