America‘s second-largest casino market, Pennsylvania, has truly hit the jackpot, according to a new study by Oxford Economics. It addition to engendering 18,000 direct-employment jobs, casinos have generated economic impact of $6.2 billion and paid $2.4 billion in taxes, not to mention generating $1.7 billion in wages (some of which may be indirect). Gambling grossed $3.1 billion, while amenities yielded another $250 million.
The 33,574 direct and indirect jobs are making the difference between 5.7% unemployment and 6.6% (theoretical). Casinos are also effectively providing tax relief of $488 per household for Pennsylvanians. American Gaming Association President Geoff Freeman was quick to tout the impressive numbers and appeal for tax relief. “How do we take 34,000 jobs and turn it into 50,000 jobs,” he asked. “How do we take $2.4 billion in tax payments and turn it into $3-billion? The policies developed around casino gaming were based on the perception that this was a monopoly, that there was easy money to be had.” Lower taxes, he argued, would encourage reinvestment, emulating Las Vegas and keeping competition from neighboring states at bay.
* Assuming it doesn’t give you an epileptic seizure, this frenetic blipvert for O’Shea’s Casino is one of the more memorable pieces of Las Vegas video advertising. (Unfortunately, the leprechaun is creepy rather than Peter Dinklage-handsome.)
* Here’s an idea we hope doesn’t spread to the casino industry. Arizona‘s L’Auberge de Sedona indexes its resort fees to room rates. So if you’re paying $125/night, your fee is $12.50. At $250 a night, it becomes $25. And so on. The fee “covers tips excluding restaurant and bar servers and the spa attendants, as well as standard resort fee amenities such as internet service. There is a separate $15 nightly valet fee for guests parking at the resort.” I’ll leave you to decide whether that’s added value or not.
* Our condolences go out to the family of Poker Night in America host Joe Sartori, the victim of inoperable stomach cancer. From hardscrabble origins, Sartori rose to become the poker room manager of Palace Station and The Palms before TV called. The tributes are already rolling in for a man who seems to have been a generous soul, willing to pitch in whenever he was needed.
