HARRISBURG, PA: Hurricane Irene blew through the eastern part of Pennsylvania during one of the last and busiest weekends of the summer and prevented normal patronage at a number of casinos. 

Nonetheless, even with this disruption, total revenue generated through the play of slot machines at Pennsylvania casinos during August rose slightly over the amount generated a year ago.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board reported on its web site today that August gross revenue at the 10 operating casinos was $199,181,820 from slot machine play, generating tax revenue to the Commonwealth this August of $108,623,689. Gross terminal revenue in August 2011 was 1.29% higher than gross terminal revenue generated in August 2010.

In a comparison of just the nine casinos operating in August 2011 that were also open for the full month of August 2010, revenue fell -5.9%, with some of that decrease certainly attributable to the storm. 

In the Southeast one casino closed and one casino scaled back operations for a short period of time during the Saturday/Sunday time period when the hurricane hit the area.

Gross revenue for each of the casinos operating in August 2011 is as follows, with the percentage change reflected for those casinos that were operating in August of both years:

The average number of operating slot machines throughout Pennsylvania at the 10 casinos was 26,327 in August 2011 compared to 25,051 at nine casinos in August 2010.