Pennsylvania Sports Betting Suffers without Eagles

It turns out Pennsylvania sports betting volume is tightly tethered to the Philadelphia Eagles making a deep NFL playoff push.

The Keystone State recently released their handle and revenue data for January 2026. According to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, around $747.8 million in total wagers were placed for the entire month. This number pales in comparison to the $830.4 million worth of bets the state took in for January 2026, representing a 10 percent drop.

Officials and operators typically do not panic when it comes to single month slides. Still, January is among the most popular months for Pennsylvania sports betting—and for sports betting in the United States at large. Not only are you squeezing in some college football bowl game betting at the beginning of it, but online betting volume for the NFL receives a major boost from the heart of its playoffs and, ultimately, lead-up to the Super Bowl.

This spike is true for every market, no matter whether they have a team still in the running. But volume is going to be higher in places with central rooting interests. That explains part of the Pennsylvania sports betting handle dip in January. But there is another potential element at play, too.

The NFL Playoffs Didn’t Do Pennsylvania Sports Betting Any Favors This Time Around

Back in 2025, the Eagles made it all the way to the Super Bowl. This ensured Pennsylvania sports betting customers were as active as possible through the entire NFL schedule, both the regular season and the playoffs. The Keystone State did not enjoy the same lengthy window in 2026.

Philadelphia ended up losing in the Wild Card game on January 11 to the San Francisco 49ers. While fans were no doubt highly engaged up until that point, Pennsylvania sports betting operators essentially missed out on additional three weeks of best-possible outcome volume relative to 2025. And it is actually more like four weeks when you factor in that first part of February.

These types of wrinkles aren’t quite make-or-break for revenue. You will see why in a second. But they absolutely have a significant impact on volume. Especially when the state’s other premier football team doesn’t pick up the late-January torch.

See, what also helped inflate sports betting in Pennsylvania last year was that the Pittsburgh Steelers were relevant and active until the middle of January as well. They lost in the 2025 Wild Card. Their season ended at that same point during the 2026 bracket. So while their fanbase’s volume doesn’t factor into the slide, it was not in a position to pick up all of the slack, either.

We Cannot Ignore the Role Prediction Markets are Playing in Handle Slides

Of course, the in-market NFL playoffs are not solely responsible for Pennsylvania’s sports betting handle tumble. Prediction markets also had to impact the bottom line, too.

A couple of years ago, these sports betting alternatives, which operate under federal regulation rather than state oversight, were far from mainstream. Many of the companies offering them didn’t even wade in sports markets. They predominantly stuck to entertainment and political developments.

Ever since late 2024, though, prediction-market operators have more aggressively entered the sports space. Their presence is gaining popularity and has many industry stakeholders on alert.

For the time being, we do not have concrete data on how much conventional sports betting activity is being siphoned off by prediction-market alternatives. But as multiple outlets have reported in the aftermath of the Super Bowl, overall sportsbook volume hardly compared to last year’s big game. Various factors are at play here, too. The Kansas City Chiefs vs. Philadelphia Eagles matchup from 2025 received a bump from the Chiefs’ attempt at repeating as champs, as well as Taylor Swift’s presence at the game.

Even so, experts both in the sports betting and financial sectors are almost in universal agreement that prediction markets played at least a partial role in the changes. Pennsylvania sports betting is not immune. At the same time, it likely wasn’t impacted as much as other places. The Keystone State first rolled out retail sports betting sometime in 2018. Its business model predates prediction-market popularity long enough that converting sports betting customers to a newer alternative will take time, if it proves successful at all.

Here’s Why Pennsylvania Sports Betting Regulators aren’t Sweating the Slide

Although the Pennsylvania sports betting handle in January will be worth tracking closely next year, immediate concern is not all that high. Despite the downtick in volume, the state actually churned out more tax revenue than it did in January 2025.

“The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board reported that despite the dwindling pot, sportsbooks’ revenue total was up 37.5 percent year over year,” writes Grant Mitchell of Covers. “That’s representative of a growing national trend of sportsbooks producing higher holds, or generating more revenue on a per-dollar basis. The state collected $23 million in gaming taxes, which was also a 37.5 percent year-over-year increase.”

This increase in revenue amid smaller volume actually isn’t that shocking. Sportsbooks have a way of making out well in certain markets when outcomes deviate the consensus. As a state heavy on Eagles and Steelers fans, sportsbooks likely took in a ton of bets on those teams to win their Wild Card matchups. With both falling in that round, operators probably made a killing off those single-game wagers. And that is in addition to collecting on any lingering futures bets that had the Eagles or Steelers winning the NFC or AFC, as well as the Super Bowl.

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