Published: July 03, 2009 11:00 am      

Gaming payoff for Pennsylvania | Atlantic City is losing at the slots

Here’s a financial windfall few of our leaders probably thought about when Pennsylvania went into the gambling business with its slots parlors: An advertising war with Atlantic City.

Tired of watching slots parlors in the Keystone State steal away their best customers, Atlantic City casinos are fighting back with billboards and direct mail marketing aimed squarely at our state’s residents.

According to The Associated Press, the three Trump casinos and the Tropicana Casino and Resort have put up billboards in Pennsylvania touting just what the Eastern Seaboard city has that Pennsylvania doesn’t: An ocean, luxurious hotels, spas and gourmet restaurants, not to mention table games?

“There’s no better place to be than the Jersey shore, and no one knows that better than the Philadelphia market because they’ve been coming here for 100 years,” said Mary Moyer, a Trump Entertainment spokeswoman.

Since the first slots parlor opened in the Philadelphia suburbs in November 2006, the AP reports, Atlantic City’s 11 casinos have seen their revenues plunge as gamblers who once had little choice but to drive to the shore – or fly to Las Vegas – could now play much closer to home.

In fact, Atlantic City is in the third straight year of declining revenues and we would expect that would fall further as the remaining Pennsylvania casinos come on line, including the Rivers Casino on Pittsburgh’s North Shore, which is expected to open this summer. In addition, the permanent slots parlor with its many restaurants and shops is now open at The Meadows Racetrack & Casino in Washington County.

Yes, the slots business in Pennsylvania appears to be doing quite well despite a severely weakened economy. (And we’re certain that’s not good news for plenty of families in the commonwealth. But that’s a subject for another editorial.) Pennsylvania’s eight slots parlors are watching revenue shoot up each month, from $132.3 million in January to $178.4 million in May.

Meanwhile, for the first five months of this year, the casinos in Atlantic City have taken in 15.7 percent less than the same period last year, AP says.

With our legislators apparently primed to approve the addition of table games, probably this year, we would imagine the gambling bosses in Atlantic City are really gathering a sweat.

It should be interesting to watch this all play out.