Pennsylvania Casino Workforce Shrinks 3.8% Even as Rivers Philadelphia Hires
Pennsylvania's 18 land-based casinos employed 15,252 people as of June 30, 2026, a 3.8% drop — 598 fewer positions — compared to a year earlier, according to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board's newly published 2025-26 annual report, the agency's 20th edition. The decline came even though the state added a new venue during the same period: Happy Valley Casino opened in State College in April 2026, meaning existing properties cut staff even as a new casino was adding jobs of its own.
Dealers absorbed the biggest share of the cuts
Table-game dealers were hit hardest, accounting for 243 of the 598 total job losses statewide — a reminder that cost pressure in the industry often lands first on labor-intensive table games rather than slot operations, which require comparatively fewer staff per dollar of revenue. The PGCB's report did not attribute a single cause for the broader decline, which reflects statewide totals across all 18 properties rather than any one casino's decision.
Rivers Philadelphia is hiring anyway
Against that statewide backdrop, Rivers Casino Philadelphia is running a job fair at its Events Center on October 19 (5-7 p.m.) and October 20 (10 a.m.-noon), with the casino saying it plans to extend on-the-spot offers to qualified applicants. The openings are concentrated in food and beverage — sous chefs, cooks, food runners, bartenders, servers, greeters, and managers — and the casino says no prior experience is required for entry-level roles; applicants must be at least 18. Rivers says the hiring push supports new restaurant concepts opening at the property. The casino posted $212.3 million in gross gaming revenue in fiscal 2025-26 from 1,500 slot machines and 100 table games, itself a 3.3% decline from $219.5 million the year before.
Why it matters
The split picture — a shrinking workforce statewide alongside active hiring at individual properties — illustrates how uneven conditions can be across a single state's casino industry even within the same fiscal year. The PGCB's report also noted active table-game job postings at several other Pennsylvania casinos, including Harrah's Philadelphia, Mohegan Pennsylvania, Parx Casino Shippensburg, and Hollywood Casino Morgantown, alongside recruiting from live-dealer streaming studios Evolution and Playtech for their in-state operations — suggesting the dealer cuts reflected in the statewide total aren't evenly distributed across every property either.