Table Games Impacting Slots?

Slot revenue figures from Pennsylvania’s nine casinos suggest traffic has increased, in the month since table games were first introduced.
Slot machines generated 116 million dollars in tax revenue for the state last month.
Of the eight casinos open this time last year, six saw increased figures, compared to July 2009. Statewide, slots revenue is up 18 percent compared to last year, but that figure includes Pittsburgh’s Rivers Casino, which opened last August.
The Sands Casino’s slots revenue jumped 25 percent, while Philadelphia Park’s increased by 19 percent. Gaming Control Board spokesman Doug Harbach attributes the slots uptick to table games.

"It certainly looks like the increased traffic that is being produced by the introduction of table games very well might be assisting in bringing the slot figures up. But it’s still a bit too early to make those type of assumptions."

Earlier this week, the Revenue Department announced table games produced 1.6 million dollars worth of tax money in July. That’s below the 6.2 million dollar monthly estimate, but Harbach says the 1.6 million dollar figure only covers about half of July.

"The way this is working for table games is the Revenue Department isn’t requiring the casinos to report their final figures for a month, until the 20th of the following month. So until they get it, then we get it, it will be after the 20th of each month until we get a reconciled figure."

Table games were introduced in waves last month at Pennsylvania’s nine casinos.