Delaware’s Three Racinos Asked for a $20 Million Tax Break, But Instead Got a $10 Million Bailout
Dover Downs Hotel & Casino this week announced it would including several new table games, including High Card Flush, Heads-Up Hold’em, and Big 6 Wheel. Despite the first two games sounding like poker variants, they are table games that have as much in common with blackjack and baccarat as they do with poker. Scoring is based on the poker hands, which makes it easy for new gamblers to learn the rules.
Dovers Downs is one of three racetracks in Delaware which offer casino style games, as well. The racino section of the complex is open 24 hours a day, though it closes on Christmas and on Easter Sunday. The 165,000 square foot gaming area contains 2,600 gaming machines, as well as 58 combined table games and poker games. The Dover Downs complex includes 14 restaurants, 1 bar and a hotel containing 500 rooms.
Delaware’s Three Racinos
Delaware Park and Harrington Raceway are the other two racinos in Delaware. All three have face difficult times over the past couple of years, due to the same market saturation which has forced 5 of the 12 casinos in Atlantic City to close this year.
Delaware’s three casino complexes also contain sportsbooks, which is one reason they remain more viable than many of the Atlantic City casinos. Still, adjacent states have built their own casino industries, which has made it harder for Dover Downs, Delaware Park, and Harrington Raceway to remain profitable.
Delaware Racino Tax Breaks
For that reason, the casinos asked for $20 million in tax breaks in 2014. The Delaware legislature formed a gaming panel to research the request. Despite the panel’s request for lawmakers to grant the $20 million in tax breaks, the state only gave $10 million to the racinos. These came mainly in the form of the suspension of a $3 million fee for special types of gambling in each casino. The same panel is studying whether to provide an additional $10 million in tax breaks in the near future. In the meantime, the three casinos continue to experiment with new ways to draw in customers.
Trying New Games to Interest Customers
Sue Sylvia, director of table games for Dover Downs, said the casino tries new games occasionally, for the benefit of customers. Mrs. Sylvia said, “We try new games or side bets to interest the customers, and not to intimidate them. Playing table games is a form of entertainment and should not be looked at as just gambling. We keep our minimums low for the average person to feel comfortable playing and be able to enjoy themselves. We have a variety of games to suit everyone’s needs and likes. Craps for the fast-paced player, blackjack for the novice and experienced, and many carnival games to choose from. We also have a lower sit-down blackjack game to accommodate customers in a wheelchair.”
Preview of the New Games
Below is a short description of each of the games being offered by Dover Downs. Visitors will find them on the gaming floor not far from the slot machines. Players should remember that table games often are easy to learn, but might have worse odds than traditional table games, like blackjack.
Heads Up Hold’em
Heads-Up Holdem works much like Ultimate Texas Hold’em, but it offers a side bet based on a “bad beat” wager. A bad beat in poker is when a player has a significant lead going into the turn and river, but their opponent catches the card they need to win, despite the high odds. In Heads-Up Hold’em, the bad beat actually pays off for a big win. The definition in the table game is a liberal one, because the player wins a big bonus anytime they hold a straight and loses to the deal.
High Card Flush
High Card Flush looks more like a game of seven-card stuf. The player and the dealer each receive 7 cards. For the player to win, he or she must collect three of a kind or better and beat the dealer. Therefore, even if the player receives three of a kind, the dealer could get a better hand and win the stakes. Dover Downs is the first east coast casino to have High Card Flush.
Big 6 Wheel
The Big 6 Wheel is offered by casinos to players who want to make periodic bets, but do not want to have to employ strategy of any kind. As with most games that have no strategy element, the house edge is poor. Gamblers can play for small stakes, placing $1 bets on the wheel and hoping to receive a 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, or 45–with corresponding odds for each number. In many casinos, the Big Six Wheel is considered the worst odds you’ll find. Only keno tends to have worse odds.
Baccarat Tables
Several nearby casinos have transitioned to large banks of baccarat tables on the gaming floor. The Sands Bethlehem near Philadelphia credits baccarat gaming for its continued revenue increase, because 50 busloads of Asian-Americans come to the casino each week from New York City to gamble on baccarat at the Sands Bethlethem.
The new Horseshoe Casino in Baltimore also caters to the same audience by offering many baccarat tables. Baccarat is a favorite of Asian gamblers, supposedly due to their belief in energy flow in all aspects of life, including gaming. Baccarat offers some of the best odds in the casino for games that have no strategy element. Blackjack, video poker, and traditional poker offer better odds, but require intense strategy study to unlock those better odds.
Dovers Downs has shown no propensity to transition to baccarat, like the casinos in Baltimore or Philadelphia. Because the gaming location is further away from population centers, the management might have decided they could not lure Asian-American gamblers from the large population centers.
