The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) reports that revenue from slot machines in the state reached US$196,635,849 in August, a rise of 5.19% over August 2009. Comparing revenue from the eight casinos operating in August last year, the rise was 2.6%. PGCB Chairman Greg Fajt said the solid figures in August complete a strong summer for gaming in Pennsylvania.

“Expansion at Commonwealth casinos during the past 90 days has produced tremendous benefits to Pennsylvanians. In addition to the growth in tax revenue from slot machine gaming that affords, among other things, a reduction in homeowners property taxes, more than 4,000 additional jobs were created through the rollout of table games.”

Four of the eight casinos operating in August 2009 have seen gross gaming revenue fall in August 2010. The Meadows Racetrack and Casino was down nearly 11.5%; Mount Airy Casino Resort down 4.78%; Harrah's Chester Casino and Racetrack down 2.08%; and Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs down slightly by 0.68%. In contrast Parx casino/Philadelphia Park Racetrack saw GGR up by 12.22%, heading the leader board at US$34,017,008.40 for the month.

On 26 August the PGCB released figures for the first month of table games, representing less than two-thirds of a full gaming month. In 24 operational days Rivers Casino with 85 gaming tables made gross revenue of US$3,052,531. Parx Casino, which operated its 57 table games for just 14 days, had the second highest revenue at US$2,328,599. Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs with 62 gaming tables operating for 19 days made the least revenue in the first month at US$1,260,653.

“We had a very aggressive and successful roll-out of table games in July that enabled the nine casinos to begin offering table games to patrons within a 10 day period,” says PGCB Executive Director Kevin O’Toole. “While the implementation of table games created a significant patron traffic increase in July, it is too early to draw any conclusions on these numbers or the effect of table games on slot machine gaming.” (E-09.09.10)

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