You might not have ever considered planning a gambling trip to Pennsylvania, but there are in fact 17 casinos in the state, so it might be a pretty good destination to try for a win.
Ever since the early 1990s, proponents of gambling in Pennsylvania have been pushing to legalize gambling in the state, especially on river boats. These attempts were denied time after time, until finally, in 2004, legislators passed the Pennsylvania Racehorse Development and Gaming Act, which legalized casinos and racetracks in the state.
And the industry started flying immediately! Within the first year, seven casinos had recorded slots revenue of over one million dollars, and in 2009, slot machine revenue in Pennsylvania was higher than in any other state except Nevada.
Pennsylvania casinos are now part of a thriving industry. The gross gaming revenue for the state was $5.86 billion in 2023, and the industry employs almost 65,000 people across the state.
In fact, the overall economic impact of casino gambling in PA stands at $14.68 billion.
Many of the Pennsylvania’s lucky casinos are located in or near Philadelphia, and the attached hotels offer a great way for you to explore the city, and take advantage of the 24/7 gambling options at the same time. Many of the casinos boast boutique hotels with luxurious suites, as well as numerous dining options, including steakhouses and Italian cuisine.
When you think of a luxurious, the first place that springs to mind is probably somewhere like the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas – the opulent suites, the view of the strip, the cocktail waitresses plying you with champagne as you play your way to a win.
But, is the going just as good in PA? We sent our Casinos.com team on a mission to find out which casinos in the Keystone State. By analysing TripAdvisor reviews, we were able to pinpoint exactly which PA casinos were rated as most luxurious, by tracking keywords like “luxury,” “magnificent,” “impressive”, and “indulge.”
These are the casinos we looked at:
Topping our list was Rivers Casino in Philadelphia, which had a Luxury Rating of 7.87%.
It’s not exactly the best rating we’ve seen, but we noticed that the casino has 487 out of 897 4 or 5 star reviews, and 11 mentions of the word “comfortable,” so people seem to be happy enough.
Next up, it’s Mount Airy Casino Resort Spa, located in Mount Pocono. This one got 6.99%, and actually had the highest percentage of reviews that used the word “comfortable.”.
One review mentioned that “The casino has a very good assortment of slots that I like, great staff, great restaurants, a gift shop, and comfortable rooms with amazing indoor and outdoor pools.”
That sure sounds luxurious to us!Rounding out the top three, we have The Meadows Racetrack and Casino, which came in at 5.60% on the Luxury Scale. In addition to “comfortable,” this casino gambing in Washington County also had reviews that mentioned “fancy” and “satisfied.”
We found one that said, “This casino is nice and spacious. You do not feel crowded or packed in like at some”, which sounds positive.
Along with the good, we unfortunately did find some not-so-luxurious casinos in the state of Pennsylvania too.
Right at the bottom of the list is Harrah’s Philadelphia with 2.65%, but to be fair, with a whopping 14,828, you’ll never be able to please everyone. Harrah’s had no mention of “magnificent,” and only one person called it extravagant.
One particularly disgruntled patron said, “The downstairs horse area looks like an old folks home with an even smaller bar.” We don’t know about you, but that doesn’t scream “luxury” to us.
Second from the bottom is Presque Isle Downs & Casino in Eerie, with 2.69% on the scale. While this casino boasts 1,500 slots and 30 table games, that clearly wasn’t enough to impress the customers, as there were no mentions of “luxurious” or “indulge,” and only 3 out of 983 said it was “fancy.”
