The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) has issued an official state licence to operate slot machines at Mount Airy Lodge. Owner Louis DeNaples paid the US$50 million fee last week after the state Supreme Court upheld the PGCB decision to award the licence last December. A rival consortium, the Pocono Manor Resort and Casino, had contested the decision. The Mount Airy slots operation must now undergo inspection and testing by the PGCB, but is expected to be open to the public in the autumn.

The fall in lottery sales in Pennsylvania could be attributed to the opening of slots operations in the state. However, lottery officials placed the blame on the lack of an accumulated jackpot to drive interest, and insist that slots and lottery gamblers are different. The lottery’s US$6 million gain for the fiscal 2007 year at O.2% was the smallest increase since 2001. The lottery’s biggest product is instant tickets but sales have dropped.

Even if the Pennsylvania slots operations are not the cause of lower lottery sales, they are certainly affecting the gambling market in Atlantic City. Last week the New Jersey Casino Control Commission gave permission for the 11 Atlantic City casinos to test electronic gaming machines that replace live table games. Slots operations in Pennsylvania offer electronic blackjack; Delaware offers blackjack, poker, baccarat, and Let It Ride.

Although no casino as yet has made a request to run trials, the electronic games could help cut costs and boost play in Atlantic City. Gambling revenue there is being adversely affected by increasing competition in neighbouring states. It is not known how the unions, increasingly active in Atlantic City, will react to potential dealer job losses if electronic games, which bridge the gap between live table games and slot machines, are installed in increasing numbers in the casinos. (E-07.25.07)

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