BC, Canada - More casino revenue than downtown Vegas
March 23rd, 2010 at 9:40:26 PM
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I was suprised to find after looking at Paco's numbers in his blog that British Columbia has more casino revenue than downtown, C$1.34 Billion in 08/09. I was going to post that relevant page from the financial report but it is locked down. I can provide the web address if anyone is interested. Many other interesting facts available from the report that is broken down by casino and table game/slot split.
The River Rock casino in Richmond is not only the highest revenue casino but brings in more from table games than slots. Not suprising that Richmond has a very high Asian population. One other casino, the Edgewater, which is in downtown Vancouver is essentially 50/50.
Another thing about the BC casinos is that they are all non-smoking, as is any public accessible building in BC. Drinks are also not free or cheap. You are only allowed to have one drink at a time and can't walk away from the bar with 2 drinks or have 2 dropped at your table. Make of this as you will on the smoking ban threads.
Revenue was down at every casino from the previous year but table games were not off by as much as slots.
Given all the discussions on what Vegas has to offer I can make some personal comments. Real full service casinos are relatively new in BC in a previous thread sometime ago about Canadaian casinos the Wiz talked about no casinos worthy of being called a casino when he was in Vancouver several years ago and he was right at that time. Before real casinos came to BC I travelled to Vegas 2 or 3 times a year with full comps. Now with 2 possibly 3 or 4 depending on criteria casions that would not look out of place in Vegas (not in overall resort size but casino only) I make less than one trip a year to Vegas. But Vegas still has something that no other place can offer. My own experience I am sure if being mirrored by millions of people across N. America who now spend a signficant amount of their entertainment dollars on casinos closer to home.
The River Rock casino in Richmond is not only the highest revenue casino but brings in more from table games than slots. Not suprising that Richmond has a very high Asian population. One other casino, the Edgewater, which is in downtown Vancouver is essentially 50/50.
Another thing about the BC casinos is that they are all non-smoking, as is any public accessible building in BC. Drinks are also not free or cheap. You are only allowed to have one drink at a time and can't walk away from the bar with 2 drinks or have 2 dropped at your table. Make of this as you will on the smoking ban threads.
Revenue was down at every casino from the previous year but table games were not off by as much as slots.
Given all the discussions on what Vegas has to offer I can make some personal comments. Real full service casinos are relatively new in BC in a previous thread sometime ago about Canadaian casinos the Wiz talked about no casinos worthy of being called a casino when he was in Vancouver several years ago and he was right at that time. Before real casinos came to BC I travelled to Vegas 2 or 3 times a year with full comps. Now with 2 possibly 3 or 4 depending on criteria casions that would not look out of place in Vegas (not in overall resort size but casino only) I make less than one trip a year to Vegas. But Vegas still has something that no other place can offer. My own experience I am sure if being mirrored by millions of people across N. America who now spend a signficant amount of their entertainment dollars on casinos closer to home.
Be careful when you follow the masses, the M is sometimes silent.
March 23rd, 2010 at 10:43:37 PM
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Downtown Vegas Latest numbers for year ending Jan 2010 (in $millions)
Games $121.858
Slots $395.271
Poker $5.880
Total $523.009
The BC numbers are higher than even the historical peak over downtown which was over $700 million in 1992. Of course, at that time downtown did not include the Stratosphere, games were a much higher percentage relative to slots, and not accounting for 18 years of inflation.
Even Laughlin made $486.017 million last year.
The highest earning PA casino, PARX, or Philadelphia Park made $367.3 million in the last 12 month. Presumably with the introduction of table games it will beat downtown Las Vegas on it's own. Of course the slots are much tighter on these casinos with no competition.
Borgata casino in Atlantic City made almost $700 million in gaming last year.
Games $121.858
Slots $395.271
Poker $5.880
Total $523.009
The BC numbers are higher than even the historical peak over downtown which was over $700 million in 1992. Of course, at that time downtown did not include the Stratosphere, games were a much higher percentage relative to slots, and not accounting for 18 years of inflation.
Even Laughlin made $486.017 million last year.
The highest earning PA casino, PARX, or Philadelphia Park made $367.3 million in the last 12 month. Presumably with the introduction of table games it will beat downtown Las Vegas on it's own. Of course the slots are much tighter on these casinos with no competition.
Borgata casino in Atlantic City made almost $700 million in gaming last year.
March 24th, 2010 at 7:50:19 AM
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When I lived in Vancouver during the early part of this century they had just started to introduce "Vegas Style" casinos and I had the pleasure to go to River Rock a couple of years ago. River Rock is in Richmond, BC (site of the Speedskating Oval). Richmond's demographics are such that the Chinese population is the dominant group there so no surprise that gambling is doing well. As well, Canada did not get hit nearly as bad by the economic slowdown as the United States did.
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You want the truth! You can't handle the truth!
April 7th, 2010 at 4:08:33 PM
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Hi Kenarman
If you still know the web address with the BC casino revenue address I would appreciate if you could provide it to me.
Thanks.
If you still know the web address with the BC casino revenue address I would appreciate if you could provide it to me.
Thanks.
