PA casinos table game revenue

After 5 years of table games in Pennsylvania let's look at growth. Since table games are taxed at 14.4% whereas slot machines are taxed at 54% the casino operator should be motivated to raise table game revenue.

$507.7 million - first year table game revenue for all ten casinos
$104.1 million - amount Sands Bethlehem raised table game revenue from first year ($73 million)
$81.4 million - amount the other nine casinos raised table game revenue
$38.7 million - table game revenue from two new mini casinos

Sands Bethlehem in marketing to Asian New York city residents and New Jersey poker players, plus building a hotel and a shopping mall outdid all the other 9 casinos in PA in increasing table game revenue. The casino is not closer to New Jersey than Mount airy or PARX casino so it doesn't have a massive geographic advantage. But clearly it is the only PA casino operator that also has a huge presence in Macau. Sands also obviously has deep pockets.

Here is the change in table game revenue from year 1 to year 5 for the TEN Pennsylvania casinos
142% SANDS BETHLEHEM
64% SUGARHOUSE (downtown Philadelphia)
36% PARX
19% THE RIVERS(downtown Pittsburgh)
16% MOHEGAN SUN
11% MOUNT AIRY
5% HARRAH'S PHILADELPHIA
-1% PENN NATIONAL
-6% THE MEADOWS
-38% PRESQUE ISLE

Slot revenue in every single casino in Pennsylvania begins dropping after the second year. They are not bottoming out like they were in NJ, but they don't get more popular. I think that with 55% tax rate, there is very little incentive for the casino operators to promote slot play. They simply stabilize.

The MEADOWS began offering free drinks at table games. The initial 30 days shows a large drop in revenue. They are continuing the experiment to see if that was a fluke.

The most obvious answer to increasing table game revenue is to cater to Asian gamblers, but PA is 2.6% Asian, Philadelphia is 6.5% Asian, NJ is 9.6% Asian, and NYC is 12.5% Asian. While not the biggest moneymaker, Sands makes a quarter million a year per table on poker which is primarily non-Asian players from Northern NJ.

Sands makes 16% more money after taxes on table games than on slot machines. Sugarhouse in downtown Philadelphia is the only one that comes close to that ratio with after tax earnings on table games 90% of slot machines.
What do you think? Can the poor or the mediocre performers get back to positive growth in table games?

Quote: pacomartin

Slot revenue in every single casino in Pennsylvania begins dropping after the second year. They are not bottoming out like they were in NJ, but they don't get more popular. I think that with 55% tax rate, there is very little incentive for the casino operators to promote slot play. They simply stabilize.

Yes, the novelty wore off and people saw how tight they were programed to pay the mafia-partner that is the Commonwealth.

Hard to believe it has been five years. But what some of us knew would happen happened. Casinos here are just another thing to do. I love Rivers for the free parking and free ride to town if I have time before a gig and am feeling cheap. I will play a few times a year, but I usually end up at Meadows because whoever I am with prefers it or there is a Steeler home game at the time I am going.

It is nice, though, because unlike A/C in the 1990s, they have to actually compete and offer something nicer. Since I am now working right across the river perhaps I will stop to relax at Rivers after work. Or not. It is just another place to go.

Wow, I took a longer look at the numbers. The only PA casinos I've been to are Harrahs Philly (uggh). Meadows with the WOV East Coast meet up, and Parx in North Philly. They were fine but nothing special. What is the secret to Sands phenominal numbers? I know it's closer to NYC than the others. But there has got to be more to it than that. They are really dominating the PA market.

Quote: pacomartin

What do you think? Can the poor or the mediocre performers get back to positive growth in table games?

Interesting post with some good info! Only thing... don't make it sound like these casino's are going downhill. Meadows, for example, is listed as -6% GROWTH. So if they were making (guessing) $50 million per year, all that means is now they're making $47 million per year, which is fairly close and still a lot of money. =p

I didn't know there was that many casino's in PA though, quite interesting =). Thanks for the cool post. Any further numbers you wish to share from these casino's would be good info too!

Quote: Romes

Interesting post with some good info! Only thing... don't make it sound like these casino's are going downhill. Meadows, for example, is listed as -6% GROWTH. So if they were making (guessing) $50 million per year, all that means is now they're making $47 million per year, which is fairly close and still a lot of money. =p

I should have said "poor or mediocre improvement". The state government set up the casinos with enough physical distance from one another that it is unlikely that one of them will fail outright. But the NJ casinos for decades improved themselves and attracted more and more business. Pennsylvania was hoping that the casinos would foster more conventions, shopping centers, hotels, and bring in out of state money.

Sands Bethlehem is the exact same distance from NYC as Mt Airy in the Poconos. The other casinos are not significantly farther away. Sands has "incredibly deep pockets", as Pennsylvania is not even worth discussing at their quarterly reviews. It is too small to be mentioned. But by the standards of PA casinos, it is the most developed (shopping, hotels, entertainment). Roughly 99% of the bus patrons are Asian, and they have hired hundreds of people who speak Chinese. Many employees live in NYC, and they come to work and sleep in shared apartments a few days a week.

Quote: pacomartin

Sands Bethlehem is the exact same distance from NYC as Mt Airy in the Poconos. The other casinos are not significantly farther away. Sands has "incredibly deep pockets", as Pennsylvania is not even worth discussing at their quarterly reviews. It is too small to be mentioned. But by the standards of PA casinos, it is the most developed (shopping, hotels, entertainment). Roughly 99% of the bus patrons are Asian, and they have hired hundreds of people who speak Chinese. Many employees live in NYC, and they come to work and sleep in shared apartments a few days a week.

I've never been to Sands. I'll have to do some research on them, and their games =D. That's interesting that employees from NYC come and use shared apartments... You seem to know a fair amount about them! Have you ever worked for any of them or have you just done your research?

Quote: pacomartin

I should have said "poor or mediocre improvement". The state government set up the casinos with enough physical distance from one another that it is unlikely that one of them will fail outright. But the NJ casinos for decades improved themselves and attracted more and more business. Pennsylvania was hoping that the casinos would foster more conventions, shopping centers, hotels, and bring in out of state money.

Seems to be happening at least somewhat. Several hotels going up by Meadows and Rivers. Rivers helps make the area busier on the 250 or so days there is nothing at the ballparks per year. Nemacolin will be a dog forever.

Quote: Romes

Interesting post with some good info! Only thing... don't make it sound like these casino's are going downhill. Meadows, for example, is listed as -6% GROWTH. So if they were making (guessing) $50 million per year, all that means is now they're making $47 million per year, which is fairly close and still a lot of money. =p

I'm not a casino operator, but casinos have huge fixed costs. Depending on the property, utilities alone can run into the multiple millions of dollars, now consider salaries, insurance, admissions tax, compliance costs, property tax, depreciation, etc, not to mention debt service. Throw in gaming tax and you might need to make 20M to break even. That 3M off the top is a lot more significant then.

The money is already walking through the door for slots, so any encouragement will work. Sister has been getting match play from Rivers instead of free play, so it seems they're trying to divert to to lower taxed revenue. They also have daily craps lessons and progressives so there is some effort.

Quote: Romes

Interesting post with some good info! Only thing... don't make it sound like these casino's are going downhill. Meadows, for example, is listed as -6% GROWTH. So if they were making (guessing) $50 million per year, all that means is now they're making $47 million per year, which is fairly close and still a lot of money. =p!

PA averages
Average per day = number of tables - Type
$715 = 213 - Poker
$2,111 = 869 - Regular Table Games
$1,489 = 12- Fully Automated Electronic Tables

No doubt that the average table game in PA casino is profitable enough that 6% loss means it is still profitable.

NEMACOLIN, and VALLEY FORGE mini casinos do not offer poker. Neither does SUGARHOUSE in downtown Philadelphia.

These casinos offer small poker operations which probably make a lot less money than the slot machines. Normally, this kind of operation would be viewed as a "loss leader" as you hope that the poker players bring their wives and girl friends who play the more profitable slots.
Average per day = number of tables - Type
$317 =9 Presque Isle
$486 =14 The Meadows
$488 =9 Mt Airy

PARX runs the most profitable poker operation, followed by Sands.
$833 = 36 Sands
$964 = 46 PARX

As far as regular table games, go Sugarhouse gets the most money per table, while Sands takes in the largest total revenue followed by PARX
$3,934 = 59 Sugarhouse
$2,778 = 164 Sands
$2,817 = 101 PARX

The poorest performing tables are in the Western Casinos
$846 = 37 PRESQUE ISLE
$1,123 = 67 THE MEADOWS

I could see some of the smaller poker operations being terminated at a 6% loss in revenue. The loss leader argument only goes so far. The casino manager may simply find slot machines more profitable. If they ended up stopping table games it would only be at Presque Isle in Erie. But that operation is more of a charity, as it is a way of keeping the horses running and people employed.

5.3% state slot revenue Presque Isles in Erie
6.1% state slot revenue Mt Airy Casino in Poconos

The state is most unhappy with the performance of Mt Airy. The operation is the most clearly connected to old-line Mafia. But the casino commission can't plead ignorance as your average man in the street knew Louis Denaples was connected to the Bufalino crime family.


I don't think they are upset about the Mafia connections as much as the fact that the casino is performing so poorly, while it is in the same distance from NYC as Sands (the best performing casino).

HOW do you increase table game revenue?

More players, better players, worse players, higher limits, lower limits, dealertainers, party pits, buses, blogs, tournaments.

Quote: FleaStiff

HOW do you increase table game revenue?

increase house edge:
blackjack pays 6:5 or even 1:1
On carnival games, reduce payable thus increase house edge, e.g, on 3-card poker , remove the ante bonus pay, on pair plus bet, reduce to flush to 2, straight to 3.
Don'y laugh, many casinos will do that soon or later.

i hope not.

Quote: pokerface

increase house edge:
blackjack pays 6:5 or even 1:1
On carnival games, reduce payable thus increase house edge, e.g, on 3-card poker , remove the ante bonus pay, on pair plus bet, reduce to flush to 2, straight to 3.
Don'y laugh, many casinos will do that soon or later.

I don't think that will help. It might be a short term fix, but you can only beat the players so much. I like casino's that try out new games and have a variety. That was one of the many things I didn't like about Revel. Players are only going to lose a certain amount of money before they stop.If you make the rules too bad they will lose in one hour instead of two hours.

You need to give them a chance to win or eventually they will stop playing except for the problem gamblers.

in PA - table game rules are state regulated. all of the casinos in PA offer the same rules.
in the following: http://gamingcontrolboard.pa.gov/files/regulations/Final_Regulations_Master.pdf

pages 593 through 620 for blackjack.
pages 765 through 781 for 3CP.

mandated by law - and the casinos have tried to push for lower odds without success throughout the past few years.

poker opens at sugarhouse next week

Quote: pokerface

increase house edge:
blackjack pays 6:5 or even 1:1
On carnival games, reduce payable thus increase house edge, e.g, on 3-card poker , remove the ante bonus pay, on pair plus bet, reduce to flush to 2, straight to 3.
Don'y laugh, many casinos will do that soon or later.

Actually, this is what will kill most carnival games, including 3CP. If the money goes too fast, people get up and leave instead of digging in their wallets for another hundred. The sweet spot is somewhere around 2-4% he, along with some addictive game play feature that keeps 'em coming back. If the hold is too high, no matter how much fun the game is, there will be an initial surge of interest but the game won't even make it into the royalty-paying phase.

They can jerk people around some on BJ, because the vast majority of people think they understand how to play the game, even if they don't really. The same can't be said for any of the carnival games. I played UTH tonight for over 6 hours and watched people have winning hands overall and still lose hundreds of dollars; they wouldn't bet the 4x when they had a hand that called for it. So they couldn't live through the mediocre/bad hands because they hadn't taken advantage of their good cards. That and 3CP, IMO, are the best-known of the carny games among the casual gamblers, and they still give money back to the casino when even a simple strategy would serve them well. On 3CP and UTH both, they stand/play when they should fold and get out.

So I think the casinos are fine with playing the carny games as they're issued; they know enough to trust the HE over the long run, and the players don't.