Table games revenue drops again at Pennsylvania casino

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Matt Rourke / AP

Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem is shown Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015, in Bethlehem, Pa.

Thu, Jun 21, 2018 (10:44 a.m.)

Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem is still Pennsylvania's table games king, but in recent months its stranglehold on the throne doesn't seem quite as firm.

For instance, in May, Sands Bethlehem generated $19.6 million in table games revenue, the 15th-highest monthly total in the casino's history but a nearly 9.7 percent decline from the $21.7 million recorded in May 2017, its third-best month ever. It's the third consecutive month that Sands' table games revenue declined compared with the prior year, following an almost 20 percent drop in April and a more than 11 percent decrease in March.

It's the first time Sands Bethlehem's table games revenue, on a year-over-year basis, has declined three months in a row, Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board spokesman Richard McGarvey confirmed.

That's allowed second-place Parx Casino in Bucks County to start closing the gap. Parx's table games revenue jumped almost 12.8 percent last month to $16 million, its fourth consecutive month of year-over-year gains.

While Sands still held a comfortable $3.6 million lead over Parx last month, the table games gap between the two facilities was nearly $7.5 million a year earlier.

Of course, some things have changed since May 2017. That's when Sands Bethlehem halted its $90 million expansion while it forged ahead with talks to sell the casino to MGM Resorts International, a deal that multiple sources said fell through that month amid the backdrop of gambling changes then being weighed by the state Legislature.

Now, Sands Bethlehem is in the midst of being sold to Wind Creek Hospitality for $1.3 billion. Meanwhile, Parx has opened a $50 million expansion that included two restaurants, an exclusive poker room and a live entertainment venue called the Xcite Center.

Competition

This year, Sands also has a new competitor for one of its key markets: those driving or busing in from New York City.

Resorts World Catskills, about 90 miles from Manhattan, opened its casino in early February. While the facility's gambling revenue thus far has underwhelmed many analysts, the Catskills casino has about 30 percent of its floor dedicated to Asian-centric table games and slot machines, and several bus operators have started offering round-trip services from New York City.

Clyde Barrow, a casino expert and general manager of Pyramid Associates in Westport, Mass., said Resorts World Catskills, in luring gamblers from New York City, is likely having an affect on Sands Bethlehem's table games figures. Plus, he noted, Atlantic City has been performing better, and two casinos are slated to open there this month.

"There's only so much of the market to go around, and everyone is trying to compete for it now," Barrow said.

At a public hearing May 30 in Harrisburg, however, Sands Bethlehem President Brian Carr claimed the facility has not felt much of an impact from Resorts World Catskills, which had total table games revenue last month of about $5.1 million. Dealing with competition is really about making Sands Bethlehem into more of a resort destination, Carr said at the hearing.

A saturation point?

Perhaps another reason for Sands' recent table games slide is because 2017 was a really good year for the Bethlehem casino.

Sands Bethlehem's four best months at the tables were all in 2017. Further, eight of the casino's top 11 months came last year.

While the gaming control board said it had no insight into Sands' table figures, spokesman Doug Harbach noted that table games figures can fluctuate widely from month to month, while slot machine revenue stays more consistent.

"A big player or two can alter it a great deal," Harbach noted.

Taking a glance at the table games figures at the state's 12 casinos shows the variations. For example, The Meadows Casino near Pittsburgh was up 124 percent last month. The recently expanded Valley Forge Casino Resort in Montgomery County, meanwhile, was up almost 68 percent at the tables.

Overall, five of the state's 12 casinos had year-over-year declines at the tables in May, including a 30.5 percent drop at Mount Airy Casino Resort in Monroe County. Mount Airy officials said they could not comment at this time.

To Barrow, seeing table revenue declines at five facilities across the state suggests something else: a potential saturation point, where the supply now meets demand.

Deal update

It's been more than three months since Las Vegas Sands Corp. announced it was selling its smallest property, Sands Bethlehem, to Wind Creek Hospitality, the gambling and hospitality arm of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians of Alabama.

But the gaming control board has yet to receive a change of ownership petition, though Harbach said that's not unusual at this point. The board has, however, started vetting the Wind Creek executives who have filed applications with the state, he noted.

It's unclear when Sands will file the petition, and spokesman Ron Reese did not return a request seeking comment. Wind Creek spokeswoman Magi Thomley Williams said the deal, slated to close late this year or in early 2019, remains on track.

"We are working with the regulators and the Sands to close," she said.

Wind Creek has no comment at this time regarding Sands Bethlehem's recent performance, she said.

And overall, Sands Bethlehem is still strong. When combining its table games and slot machine revenue, Sands had $46.6 million in total gambling revenue last month -- about $5.1 million behind state-leading Parx.

In May 2017, however, Sands Bethlehem's monthly total of $48.2 million trailed Parx by just less than $97,000.

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