Gambling news from http://www.timesleader.com/
PLAINS TWP. – You won’t need to bring change to the Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs slot machine casino. And you won’t get a pocketful of quarters in winnings, unless you want to.
All 1,083 machines ordered for the Downs’ temporary gaming facility are of the “ticket-in-ticket-out” variety that accept players’ payments in paper currency or tickets that work like fare cards. Rather than continuously stuffing coins into slots, players will buy the amount of credits they want and the computerized machines will deduct or add as play goes on.
When they want to cash out, players can take their tickets to self-service redemption kiosks. “You put the card in and it will spit the cash out,” said Downs president Robert Soper.
Traditional “cages” also will be on the gaming floor, where players can buy tickets using a credit card or get cashed out by an attendant.
As long as they have money remaining on the cards, players also will be able to take them from machine to machine, some with names like “Hot Shot Progressive” and “Hee Haw.” Those are two of the models ordered from Bally Technologies.
Soper said Bally will supply about 300 machines, with others coming from various manufacturers. The casino also is buying Bally’s casino management system, which ties all gaming operations together.
It might seem that such a fast, painless system would encourage more gambling, but that hasn’t proven true, said David G. Schwartz, coordinator of the Gaming Studies Research Center at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
“There’s no evidence that it’s a problem,” Schwartz said. Revenues have not gone up noticeably at casinos that have installed the machines in recent years, something he said would have been noticed.
“The purpose is not to get people to play more. It’s cleaner and more convenient for the player,” Soper said. “I think generally people have a limited budget and they play to that budget.”
Slots on the floor will range from a penny to $5 per play. Other denominations will be 5 cents, 25 cents and $1. Players will have a choice between pressing a button or pulling a handle to play. Higher stakes slots are likely in a permanent casino.
While casino operators tout customer convenience as the motivation for installing the new machines, labor cost savings may be more important. “That’s generally the driver in casino operations,” Schwartz said, because labor is the largest operating expense.
Soper does not disagree, but points out that Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs still will be a very labor-intensive operation. “Look, we’re hiring 400 people.”
That’s for the temporary casino that could open as soon as November. A 400,000-square-foot permanent casino is slated to hold 2,000 slot machines, restaurants, nightclubs and retail stores, and will employ about 1,000 in all.
The permanent casino is still being designed. “It’s likely that we would not commence construction until we receive the permanent license,” Soper said. The state Gaming Control Board is aiming to grant licenses in December.
Soper has said in the past that it will take 14-18 months to build the permanent casino.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ron Bartizek, Times Leader business editor, may be reached at 970-7157.
|
|
