2008 Woodie Awards
Editor's Column: Philadelphia casinos are an unworthy and risky gamble
Issue date: 2/14/07 Section: Opinion
Visions of restaurants, neon signs, well-dressed patrons, and the warm bleeping of slot machines: the proposals that were approved last December for Philadelphia's new casinos, SugarHouse and Foxwoods, promise to have it all. But there is one thing missing from the prospective structures: any sign of traditional casino table games.
In accordance with guidelines set forth by the Pennsylvania gaming commission, both Foxwoods and SugarHouse will stray from the customary casino games and feature only slot machines. Thousands of slot machines. After long months of grueling planning and presentations against three other stiff competitors, TrumpStreet, Pinnacle, and Riverwalk, the two winners have laid out high hopes for the economic value they will be adding to the Philadelphia community; however, the table game limitation may make it hard for the gaming giants to follow up on their promises. SugarHouse, for example, intends to employ over 1,300 individuals with "permanent" and "high quality" jobs in addition to bolstering Philly's service and hospitality industries in the surrounding area. The casino also predicts that it will be able to directly contribute nearly $100 million to the city's budget. However, both casinos are only a short jump from Atlantic City, in an area that has been plagued by traffic and violence in the media, and they lack a prominent feature of many other casinos. Therefore it is questionable that either SugarHouse or Foxwoods will be as successful as they propose to be. Bill Thompson, a professor of Public Administration, explains that "nobody travels to play a slot machine," especially when bigger and perhaps better casino opportunities are just a stone's throw away.
After all, it is table games, not slot machines, that attract the younger, more affluent patrons according to a recent study of Connecticut's two casinos cited in City Paper. Having more income at your disposal means less risk, and consequently allows casino guests to spend more once they are inside a casino, both on gambling and other services. Without table games, Clyde Barrow explains, Pennsylvania is "failing to capture the most lucrative sector of the [Northeast] gambling market," leaving the new casinos as "just another entertainment option" for visitors, rather than something that would prompt a new rush of tourists.
Many self-proclaimed "anti-casino" websites, such as hallwatch.org, examine the negative consequences of the casino construction, claiming everything from its moral disintegration to the devaluation of property and housing in the surrounding areas due to increased traffic, litter, and drunk driving. While these figures are all projections, as Philadelphia's casinos are positioned in an area unlike any others, the cost benefit analysis of these buildings seems to work in their favor if what they promise is valid. However, if the casino business fails in Philadelphia, these negative consequences will become a travesty for the economics of the city. With the stakes so high, it doesn't seem wise for Philadelphia to gamble with the construction of the controversial casino's when they are missing such a key element in table games.
In accordance with guidelines set forth by the Pennsylvania gaming commission, both Foxwoods and SugarHouse will stray from the customary casino games and feature only slot machines. Thousands of slot machines. After long months of grueling planning and presentations against three other stiff competitors, TrumpStreet, Pinnacle, and Riverwalk, the two winners have laid out high hopes for the economic value they will be adding to the Philadelphia community; however, the table game limitation may make it hard for the gaming giants to follow up on their promises. SugarHouse, for example, intends to employ over 1,300 individuals with "permanent" and "high quality" jobs in addition to bolstering Philly's service and hospitality industries in the surrounding area. The casino also predicts that it will be able to directly contribute nearly $100 million to the city's budget. However, both casinos are only a short jump from Atlantic City, in an area that has been plagued by traffic and violence in the media, and they lack a prominent feature of many other casinos. Therefore it is questionable that either SugarHouse or Foxwoods will be as successful as they propose to be. Bill Thompson, a professor of Public Administration, explains that "nobody travels to play a slot machine," especially when bigger and perhaps better casino opportunities are just a stone's throw away.
After all, it is table games, not slot machines, that attract the younger, more affluent patrons according to a recent study of Connecticut's two casinos cited in City Paper. Having more income at your disposal means less risk, and consequently allows casino guests to spend more once they are inside a casino, both on gambling and other services. Without table games, Clyde Barrow explains, Pennsylvania is "failing to capture the most lucrative sector of the [Northeast] gambling market," leaving the new casinos as "just another entertainment option" for visitors, rather than something that would prompt a new rush of tourists.
Many self-proclaimed "anti-casino" websites, such as hallwatch.org, examine the negative consequences of the casino construction, claiming everything from its moral disintegration to the devaluation of property and housing in the surrounding areas due to increased traffic, litter, and drunk driving. While these figures are all projections, as Philadelphia's casinos are positioned in an area unlike any others, the cost benefit analysis of these buildings seems to work in their favor if what they promise is valid. However, if the casino business fails in Philadelphia, these negative consequences will become a travesty for the economics of the city. With the stakes so high, it doesn't seem wise for Philadelphia to gamble with the construction of the controversial casino's when they are missing such a key element in table games.
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Joe
posted 2/15/07 @ 1:17 PM EST
I completely agree with this article in spirit, as I am a big table game fan and for that reason won't frequent the slot parlors being built in and around Philadelphia. (Continued…)
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