More dollars gambled as new casino opens

Print

Two weeks after the state’s newest casino opened, the money gambled in New York’s various gaming facilities continued to increase.

The following sums are provided by the state Gaming Commission:

  • For the two weeks ended Feb. 4, the total gambled at Del Lago Resort and Casino in Waterloo, Rivers Casino and Resort in Schenectady and Tioga Downs Casino in Nichols was $132.16 million.
  • For the two weeks ended Feb. 18, the total gambled at those three casinos increased to $137.8 million, despite new competition from the big $1.2 billion Resorts World Catskills, which opened in Monticello on Feb. 8.
  • For the two weeks ending Feb. 18, $63.31 million was gambled at Resorts World Catskills. 
  • Meanwhile, the state’s 11 video gaming facilities — which offer fewer gambling options than the four new casinos and were expected to suffer from their competition — saw a small decrease in dollars gambled: From $1.46 billion in the two weeks ended Feb. 3 to $1.44 billion in the two weeks ended Feb. 17.
  • However, video gaming facilities saw a year-over-year increase for both periods, despite all the new casinos opening: $1.37 billion was gambled in the two weeks ended Feb. 4, 2017, and $1.32 billion was gambled in the two weeks ended Feb. 18, 2017. (Year-over-year comparisons for the four casinos are problematic because they are all so new.)

Some critics say New York’s new casinos are a bad bet, citing a recent Moody’s Investors Service report that said that the profusion of new casinos in the Northeast will result in gambling facilities cannibalizing revenue from each other. 

Extrapolating trends from a few weeks' worth of data is impossible: The casinos are still relatively new or even brand new; a grand opening bounce or an anniversary celebration or growing pains all could affect a particular week’s revenue at a particular casino and have little impact on long-term results or future prospects. 

Read more http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&ct2=us&usg=AFQjCNFbt1pMg6eGnNUji1UbISgSOoMphA&clid=c3a7d30bb8a4878e06b80cf16b898331&cid=52779819616321&ei=FCacWvvvIY6FhQGssJLABw&url=https://dailygazette.com/article/2018/03/02/more-dollars-gambled-as-new-casino-opens