Majority Leader Valerie Longhurst Says She Doesn’t Think the Bill Will Pass in the Delaware General Assembly
A Delaware study commission narrowly endorsed a taxpayer bailout for the struggling land-based gambling industry of Delaware on Thursday. The panel voted 5-4 to recommend a cut of $46 million to the state budget. The funding would help Delaware’s three land casinos, due to the lost revenues from newer casinos in Pennsylvania and Maryland. In the summer of 2014, the Horseshoe Baltimore casino opened in Maryland.
It is thought a bailout bill will face an uphill battle in the General Assembly. The legislature offered a $10 million bailout in 2014. At the time, the assembly was asked to give the three racinos a $20 million bailout, but lawmakers declined. An approval a $46 million annual bailout seems to be unlikely to happen.
May Not Have Support in Assembly
House Majority Leader Valerie Longhurst, D-Bear, a panel member who voted against the proposal, said, “I honestly don’t think it will have the support in the General Assembly to pass.”
The three other panel members who voted against the recommendation were state economic development director Alan Levin, finance secretary Tom Cook, and Rep. Charles Potter, a Democrat from Wilmington.
The three racetrack casinos or “racinos” in the state have struggled from a number of years. Dover Downs, Delaware Park, and Harrington Raceway argue they need state funding to remain viable businesses–at least during a downturn in the fortunes of the regional gaming industry. The three racinos also saw a dip in their online poker statistics in December 2014.
Delaware’s iPoker Revenues Dropped 9.6%
The revenues for Delaware’s online poker industry dropped nearly 10% in December. The industry generated $28,589 in total revenue from its poker rake in December 2014. That was down from the $31,610 collected in November 2014, which represents a 9.6% drop from the previous month.
Delaware Park’s website generated more than half of the revenue, with $15,964 in winnings for the month. Dover Downs finished in second, with $7,625 in poker winnings. Harrington Raceway finished third in online revenues, with only $4,999 in winnings.
Third-Worst Ever Month
Over the 14 months since the launch of the Delaware websites, the December numbers were the third-worst ever. The only worse months were October 2104 and June 2014. This is troubling, because two of the worst months have occurred over the past 3 months of 2014.
The best month ever was December 2013, when the state collected $106,922. That was the first full month of online gaming for the three Delaware racetracks. If you compare the decline from one year to the next–a common way to measure progress in the gambling industry–Delaware’s revenues dropped 73% from one year to the next.
Smaller Numbers for Delaware
The numbers would not be that alarming, because the amounts are relatively small. 10% of $30,000 isn’t that much of a fluctuation, compared to the massive revenue fluctuations one would see in any given month in Las Vegas. $3,000 might represent the good luck or bad luck of one player, if they played for middle stakes. But comparisons from one year to the next show a sharp decline for Delaware’s gambling industry.
That was a good number of winnings for a state with a population just over 1 million, but those gamblers no longer appear to be playing. The lack of liquidity has hurt the Delaware iPoker industry, because not enough tables are open to draw players to the sites. Online poker requires many players, because gamblers play against other human being–not against computer software.
The future of the Delaware gambling industry does not appear bright. The land-based gaming venues have the ability to offer sports betting, but it does not seem to help. Meanwhile, other U.S. states are seeking the challenge the PASPA, which could take another advantage away from the three racinos.
One positive sign for the Delaware online gambling industry is the number of states ready to pass pro-online gambling bills. Washington, Indiana, and Mississippi now join Pennsylvania and California as states considering iGaming. The more these states approve online gambling, the more likely states will sign on to the interstate poker compact between Delaware and Nevada. The compact is the only feasible chance Delaware has to increase revenues, because they would be able to share players, thus increasing the liquidity which has held back the iGaming industry to this point.
