The advent of table games betting in Delaware means the state and its three racinos now offer the widest array of gambling options to customers possible, but will the addition of table games to slots and NFL sports betting generate enough revenue to help Delaware—which gets a sizable cut—and the racinos?
Table games, authorized by the state last January, are now up and running at Delaware Park, Dover Downs, and the Harrington Raceway and Casino, giving all three the opportunity to become what Dover Downs President Ed Sutor calls "a full-fledged casino with all the amenities—the same type of amenities you would get at a first-class casino in Las Vegas or Atlantic City.”
Harrington launched on May 28th, Delaware Park on June 18th, and Dover Downs on June 25th. July was the first full month of table games - blackjack, craps, poker, and roulette - at all three Delaware racinos, and the newly released revenue figures for the month show lower-than-predicted proceeds for the state.
The state forecast it would receive $29 million revenue from table games this fiscal year. To reach that mark, table games need to bring the state just under $558,000 a week. In July, the state pulled in just over $1.7 million from table games, or $426,000 per week.
“It's definitely too to start making judgments," said Vernon Kirk, deputy director of the Delaware Lottery. "There's just not enough raw data."
The numbers from Harrington Raceway and Casino are noteworthy because the venue has had table games running for two full months. From June to July the amount wagered dropped 18.5 percent, and the state’s share of revenue coming from the venue fell 15 percent.
“We're not sure what impact the State Fair has had on Harrington's numbers," Kirk said. The fair took place during the last two weeks of July.
Dover Downs' Sutor says patience is needed before judging whether table games can deliver the projected revenue.
[caption id="attachment_1531" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Kent County casino was last to start live table games but has seen steadily increasing traffic"]https://www.wdde.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC00191-150x150.jpg[/caption]
“Certain numbers were thrown around by the state" about what it expects on an annual basis, he said. "If you just divide by 12, you have a number, but we’re not close to that number. You have to build to that. Just like any other operation, you just don’t flick a switch and the customers are there.”
Sutor also warns against using small snapshots of information to project the long term.
"Table games itself is very volatile. The wins go up and down. It’s not like slots. I could tell within 1 percent what we will do with slots every day next year, but on table games you can’t do that,” Sutor said. “We will still be able win based upon the law of averages and the statistics of the games. In other words, we will be at 14 percent or 15 percent of the amounts bet by the end of the year. But in between you will have days when you lose money and days with good money. You can’t make knee jerk decisions based on that volatility."
Officials at Delaware Park and Dover Downs say they are pleased with the initial volume of play at the tables.
"Each week, table games operations has been better than the week before with regard to the amount of play,” said Sutor. “If it continues on that track ... we believe we will hit all the marks that state has set out there for us.”
Customers placed nearly $7.3 million in bets at Dover Downs tables in July. Traffic was much higher at Delaware Park, where expectations were exceeded with bettors wagering just over $18.5 million in July. However, volume did level off at Delaware Park once Pennsylvania brought table games on line in its casinos in July. Chief Operating Officer Andrew Gentile says the casino needs to hire more dealers quickly so it can stay competitive by having more tables open.
“Right now we have 45 (job) offers out there pending. As soon we can get those people on board and open the games, I think you will see the revenue start to climb again because then when we can offer the variety of games we intended to offer,” Gentile said. "And allow everyone who comes out on a Friday night to get a seat.”
Casino operators express optimism about the impact table games can have beyond revenues from the games themselves. At Dover Downs, Sutor sees an early trend he didn’t expect.
"We, believe it or not, have spillover into our slots area. Some people out there said we would cannibalize our slots business, but just the opposite has occurred. We’re seeing a nice little bump in our slot revenue. Those people who’ve come to play table games have brought their 'significant other,' and that person is playing slots,” said Sutor.
Gentile sees a similar bounce at Delaware Park, where June marked a 25-month decline in revenue from slots. In July, the decline began to flatten out.
"Most companies would say, 'What’s so exciting about being flat?' When you’re down 25 months in a row, flat is a huge improvement," he explained. "And when you’re running almost 8 percent down [this year] and then we’re flat, that means we’re seeing almost an 8 percent increase in slot play with [the addition of] table games."
Both Sutor and Gentile believe another boost will come when sports betting resumes. The racinos anticipate August 6 will be the first date to place bets on NFL preseason games.
"There will be a nice crossover between sports bettors and table games," Sutor predicted. "Hopefully that will give us an advantage over Pennsylvania and New Jersey, which don’t have sports betting.”
"Last year when we had sports betting, the No. 1 question for the sports bettor was, 'Where’s your poker room?' or 'Do you have live table games?' ” said Gentile. “Last year what we saw was that they would come in, place their wagers, the lines in the crowds before 1 o’clock were massive, by 4 o’clock it had all died off. Now that we have poker and table games, we hope they will stick around and you’ll see more of that crossover play we predicted in last year’s numbers come to fruition.”
[caption id="attachment_1535" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Delaware Park anticipates an Aug 6th start date for sports betting that might bring even more people to the casino"]https://www.wdde.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DSC00194-150x150.jpg[/caption]
Gentile also notes that direct and crossover revenue produced by table games are not the only benefits the games provide. Food and beverage revenue also get a lift. And while he remains circumspect about the overall impact table games will have on his racino’s bottom line, he’s happy to have them.
“We have hired over 400 team members to run table games, and we’re short another 40 to 50 team members to get it up where we need," Gentile said. "We basically added 40 percent in staffing just for table games. When you look at the overhead, it doesn’t drive profit, but it does keep us on a level playing field. If we didn’t have table games, Pennsylvania would be killing us right now.”
Sutor is hopeful table games will “put some profits back into casinos to stabilize them” as Dover Downs prepares to fend off anticipated competition from Maryland.
"I’m always optimistic. You have to be," Sutor said. "You can’t turn your tail in and run. We have a quality facility here with quality people. We have a 10-to-12 year head start on other casinos [in Maryland].”