Casino Industry News and Analysis

Casinos

Mid-Atlantic Casinos & Racinos

Note: this page is a work-in-progress, please check back regularly for updates! thx,jk

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    • Penn National's flagship racino outside Harrisburg, PA -- a big operation that generated $72.7 million in revenues from just over 2,000 slot machines in FY07-08 in just 5 months (it opened in Feb. 2008). Its slots handle for FY 07-08 was close to $1 billion.

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    • A Wimington, Delaware racino-- very successful operation with slot machines & electronic table games, in a great location off I-95 between Philadelphia & Baltimore.

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    • This property is another Delaware racino (Dover), conveniently located near the Dover NASCAR track and Air Force base. It has some 3,100 machines, including electronic table games: Blackjack, Let it Ride, Ultimate Texas Hold'em.

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    • Harrah's initial foray into Pennsylvania gaming, just south of Philly off I-95. The company made extensive use of its AC-based experts to develop the property, and its proximity to AC allows for easy cross-marketing.

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    • This is another PA racino located just north of Philly in Bensalem. With 2,912 machines in FY 2007-08, it brought in $325.2 million in slots revenue and had a slots handle of $3.85 billion. When AC folks look towards the new PA operations to (partially) explain their city's downturn, they look at Philadelphia Park first. Its no accident that one of the first billboards one sees on the AC Expwy leaving town is for this operation.

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    • Located in the Poconos, this was the first casino to open in PA, (Nov. '06), beating out Philadelphia Park by a few weeks. Along with Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun represents the hugely-successful Connecticut tribal casinos' expansion efforts. In FY 07-08, it brought in $170.6 million in slots revenue with approximately 1,200 machines.

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    • Borgata changed the Atlantic City casino culture when it opened in 2003 and it has had lots of success since then. It originated with the Mirage's marina project, begun in the mid-1990s by Steve Wynn. It opened as a joint property owned by MGM-Mirage and Boyd Gaming. It brought Vegas-style flare to AC'scene, along with upscale restaurants, amenities and an emphasis on table games, which had long since given up revenue ground and casino floor space to slots in most of the AC casinos. More than anything, Borgata's success from 2003 to 2006 was responsible for the recent wave of casino expansion in AC (partially stalled in 2008 due to the financial markets).

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    • This took seven years to develop before it opened in 1990 as the largest casino in the world. Along the way, it more-or-less led Resorts International to bankruptcy and practically bankrupted the Trump Organization when it opened in the midst of a severe economic downturn in the Northeast. However, its faux-Indian architecture and decor defined Atlantic City for a long while, and it has become somewhat iconic for Atlantic City, just as the white elephants that posted at its front entrance have become unfortunately symbolic. When the 'Sex and the City' women took an AC trip on an episode from the late 1990s, they went to the Taj. The Taj's star power has been somewhat eclipsed by Borgata in recent years. When the 'Sopranos' gang went to AC for an episode a few years ago, they went to Borgata. Taj management hopes that a new luxe hotel tower (opened Aug. 2008) will help it compete.

    For lots more detail on the Taj and Borgata stories & the Atlantic City casino experience, check out my book, abstract here: Gambling on the American Dream: Atlantic City and the Casino Era