Sands, Pennsylvania casinos celebrate record March

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board board said in a news release that the state's 12 casinos raked in $77.9 million last month on table games such as blackjack, roulette and craps, up 11.7 percent from March 2015, and beating by nearly $5.7 million the revenue in December, the highest month since they were added to casinos in 2010.

Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem topped the list of 12 casinos, with $19.6 million in table games revenue last month, up 14.8 percent from March 2015, when it recorded $17.1 million.

Mount Airy Casino in Paradise Township, Monroe County, brought in $4.1 million in March, up 0.3 percent from the same month in 2015.

Sands also finished second, at $46.9 million, in total gaming revenue for March, trailing only Parx Casino in Bensalem, Bucks County. Sands posted an 8.3 percent increase in table games revenue, while Parx, with $49.9 million in total revenue, saw an increase of 11.9 percent.

Combined with an earlier-reported 1.7 percent increase in slots revenue for March, the total gaming revenue rose 4.2 percent for the month, $277.5 million to $289.2 million, according to the gaming board.

Casinos pay a state tax of 55 percent on all slot machine revenues and 14 percent on all table games revenues.