New Jersey online gambling does not appear to be harming Pennsylvania’s land-based table games industry. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board announced this week a record breaking month for their brick-and-mortar table games.
The $69.7 million in announced revenues for March 2014 breaks the previous record of $67.4 million set in March 2013, which had been the previous high total since land gambling started in Pennsylvania in July of 2010.
While the table game numbers were impressive, it was not able to offset the year-to-year losses from the slot machine sector of the casino floor. The total decline in revenues was 4.2%, due to the loss of revenues from slots.
Slot Machine Revenues Down
Slot machines account for 60% to 70% of all brick-and-mortar profits. Among the 11 Pennsylvania casino operations, 7 of them reported drops in their slot machine revenues.
The decline in gaming machine revenues might account for some of the uptick on the table game winnings. A certain percentage of gamblers may have discovered the slots are among the worst bets in the casino. Though a large progressive jackpot offers a lottery style payout, it also has a much higher house edge than blackjack or video poker.
New Jersey Online Gambling Could Hurt
Another theory for the decline might be that gamblers in western New Jersey are staying at home to gamble on their desktop computer, laptop, or Android smartphone. With licensed online gambling in New Jersey, it might be seen as more convenient to stay at home to play the online slots.
Table game experiences are much different in a live venue than they are at home on the PC. Players talk to fellow players and dealers, making for a social type of gambling. A game like craps is hard to reproduce online, because part of the fun is betting the same as all the other gamblers, and thus cheering for your neighbor as they (and you) win.
Why Slot Machines Could Be Damaged
With slot machines, it is a solitary experience both in the live casino and at home on your monitor screen. A random number generator determines the results, whether you play in a brick-and-mortar establishment or ten feet from your refrigerator.
The bright lights and evocative sounds of a casino slot machine might be better than on your Toshiba laptop, but otherwise, the game remains the same. So it might be the slot machine gaming could be more affected by the new gaming options than the table games.
Members of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board still are uncertain what type of effect New Jersey’s new laws are having on casino visits. Richard McGarvey of the Gaming Control Board says the information is still incomplete. “From our point of view, we don’t know–it’s too early to tell if it’s having any impact. There’s just no real good information on it, on who are the players, if they’re the kind of people who go to casinos or not.”
Borgata Online Gains an Advantage
Borgata, which has the biggest share of the New Jersey online gambling demographic, is reaping direct and indirect benefits from its online gaming dominance. Because of the hundreds of thousands of signups, Atlantic City casinos are able to collect potential customer lists which are invaluable to their land-based business, as well.
This serves are a database of information which can be used to analyze the gambling public, then better craft promotions which appeal to these people. Thus, New Jersey’s advantage might grow with time, as Pennsylvania’s political and business leaders are left in the dark about the latest gaming trends.
Pennsylvania Online Gambling Legislation
Pennsylvania’s lawmakers have tough decisions to make about online gambling. One bill would legalize online gambling in the state, allowing the 11 casino operations to set up their own gambling websites for Pennsylvanians. Another Pennsylvania congressman would like a law that not only outlaws online gambling totally, but would jail citizens who gamble on the computer.
The battle to legalize online gambling in Pennsylvania could get easier, if rumors are true that Las Vegas Sands Corp. is trying to sell the Sands Casino in Bethlehem. If Sheldon Adelson’s company leaves the state, then the 8th-richest man in the world with a mission to end online gambling is likely to have less influence in the state.
