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Pennsylvania added a new casino this spring, but the state’s casino workforce still shrank during the 2025-26 fiscal year.
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board‘s latest annual diversity report, released Oct. 1, reviews employment, supplier spending and workforce diversity across the state’s gaming industry. Compared with last year’s report, casinos spent a smaller share of their purchasing budgets with local businesses. Spending with minority-owned and women-owned suppliers rose slightly.
Overall, the findings point to a relatively stable and diverse workforce, but a smaller one, with spending shifting away from local vendors.
Employment falls despite Happy Valley opening
The report measures employment as of June 30, 2026. At that point, Pennsylvania’s 18 licensed casinos and gaming resorts employed 15,242 people, down 598 from 15,840 a year earlier.
The drop came even though Happy Valley Casino opened April 27 in College Township as the state’s fifth mini-casino and 18th casino overall. The property employed 289 people by the end of the fiscal year, including 285 Pennsylvania residents. That means the other 17 casinos employed about 887 fewer people than a year earlier.
Pennsylvania residents still make up most of the workforce. Of the 15,242 employees, 13,786 live in the state, keeping the share at 90%, as in recent years. State gaming law requires casinos to prioritize qualified local applicants.
Table games employment also declined to 4,690 from 4,933 the previous year. About 86% of those jobs are held by Pennsylvania residents, above the state’s goal for table games staff.
Local vendors’ share falls to 31%
Pennsylvania casinos spent $753 million on construction projects and other purchases during the fiscal year. About $692 million went to non-construction goods and services, and about $61 million to construction.
Overall spending has now fallen two years in a row, from $830 million in 2024-25 and $1.05 billion in 2023-24. The largest drop came in construction spending.
Businesses in a casino’s home county or a neighboring county received about $230 million, or 31% of total spending. That is down from the 46% reported last year and 50.8% the year before.
Spending with minority-owned and women-owned businesses edged up. Casinos awarded about $72 million in construction and non-construction contracts to those businesses, compared with roughly $71 million in 2024-25.
Diversity holds steady as jobs shrink
Although employment fell, the workforce’s makeup changed little. Racial minorities make up 42% of casino employees, unchanged from last year, and women make up 46%.
Senior roles look different. Of the 2,359 executive, management and professional employees counted, women hold 39% of jobs and minorities hold 28%.
Individual casinos varied widely. Minorities hold 53% of those senior roles at Harrah’s Philadelphia and Valley Forge Casino Resort, and 49% at Rivers Casino Philadelphia, but only 10% at Presque Isle Downs & Casino and 5% at Live! Casino Pittsburgh.
The report compares each casino’s workforce with 2020 census data for its home and surrounding counties. Philadelphia County is 39.3% Black and 36.3% white, while Erie County, home to Presque Isle, is 82.2% white.
Parx Casino remained the largest employer with 1,872 workers, followed by Wind Creek Bethlehem (1,589) and Rivers Casino Pittsburgh (1,496). Live! Casino Philadelphia had the lowest share of Pennsylvania residents among its employees at 74%, followed by Rivers Casino Philadelphia at 79%.
How casinos court small, divers suppliers
Casinos kept operating despite supply chain disruptions, inflation, tariffs and higher labor costs.
To help small and diverse businesses win contracts, they updated supplier databases, kept prompt-payment practices, simplified bidding and continued mentorship programs, working with groups such as the Minority Supplier Development Council and the Women’s Business Enterprise Center East.
They also prioritize internal promotion, supported by training, mentoring, leadership development and succession planning.
PA casino donations top $241 million overall
The 2025-26 report is the board’s 19th annual diversity report under the Race Horse Development and Gaming Act, which requires every licensed casino to maintain diversity programs and file annual plans.
Since 2006, Pennsylvania casinos have donated more than $241 million to charitable causes. The board said the industry generated $3.1 billion in tax and fee revenue in fiscal 2025-26.
