A year after its opening, the Rivers Casino may have found a winning hand in table games.

The Pittsburgh venue produced more revenue from table games in July, the first month the gambling was allowed, than any other casino in the state.

Its performance comes with an asterisk, however, since the Rivers and two other Western Pennsylvania casinos introduced table games earlier than the six other casinos in the commonwealth.

Even taking that into account, the Pittsburgh casino finished third in Pennsylvania in average daily table games revenue behind the Parx Casino in Philadelphia and Harrah's Chester Casino and Racetrack, also on the eastern end of the state.

That's better than the Rivers Casino has done on slot machines, where it has underperformed for much of the past year, with weekly revenues typically running anywhere from fourth to sixth in the state.

"All in all we're very pleased [with the table game numbers], but we also recognize that we're in this ramp-up phase and we have some room to grow," Rivers general manager Todd Moyer said.

Statistics released by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board Thursday showed that in July the Pittsburgh casino generated $3 million in gross table games revenue, including test nights, almost $724,000 more than the Parx Casino.

The Rivers, The Meadows Racetrack and Casino in Washington County and Presque Isle Downs and Casino in Erie began offering table games July 8, at least five days earlier than any other casino. Parx, for example, did not introduce table games until July 18.

For the month, The Meadows produced $1.91 million in gross revenue, which ranked fifth in the state. However, its ranking fell to seventh based on its average daily take, which was $79,628. Parx was first in that category, with average daily revenue of $166,329.

Meadows spokesman David La Torre said the Washington County casino had no problem with its performance, given that it started with 62 tables, fewer than the Rivers, with 85, and three other venues.

"It's a little too early to get caught up in the numbers. Given the number of tables, we're certainly comfortable with where we are. It's a little too early to draw any long-term conclusions," he said.

Overall, casinos generated $2.45 million in state tax revenue and $350,787 in local tax revenue from table games in July.

The state tax revenue falls well short of the average of $6.2 million a month Pennsylvania expected from table games, but gaming board executive director Kevin O'Toole pointed out that the figures represented less than two-thirds of a full month of gambling.

"While the implementation of table games created a significant patron traffic increase in July, it is too early to draw any conclusions on these numbers or the effect of table games on slot machine gaming," he said.

Table games produced $17.5 million in gross revenue for the casinos last month. Table games are taxed at 16 percent of the gross, with 14 percent going to the state and 2 percent to the local jurisdictions hosting the casino.

Despite the good start, Mr. Moyer said the Rivers Casino is already making adjustments to its table games operation, adding more three-card poker and roulette, and a new game, Let It Ride, while dropping a few blackjack tables.

The casino will be making the changes over the next several weeks. "It's responding to games people want and getting the right game mix," Mr. Moyer said.

Rivers officials also will be adding more supervisors, providing more staff flexibility and enabling the casino to keep more table games open for longer periods of time.

Looking for more from the Post-Gazette? Join PG+, our members-only web site. You'll get exclusive sports content, opinion, financial information, discounts from retailers and restaurants, and more. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.