Better luck at Harrah’s

The luck is changing at Harrah’s.

No, not for the customers. I’m talking about the house.

I’ve made it a point to wonder why Harrah’s revenue has been slumping for almost a year. The slots parlor on the Chester waterfront ran off a streak of eight straight months where their take was down from the same month the year before.

That ended in October. Harrah’s fortunes went up 3.79 percent compared to last October. Talk about your trick or treat. That’s a lot of goodies.

Harrah’s took in $25,625,358.31 in October, according figures released by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. (I’ve always wondered exactly where the 31 cents comes from.) That compares with $24,689,003.86 in October of last year. It also keeps Harrah’s in its lofty No 2 perch when it comes to slots gambling in the state, trailing only the $29.5 million raked in at Philly Park.

Across the state, gambling revenue rose 31.97 percent over the year before, although some of that is attributable to the fact that there are simply more casinos online now. The nine operating casinos in the state hauled in better than $177 million in gross revenue in October.

As is their usual custom, Harrah’s is not talking about their revenue.

A couple of things struck me about the uptick in fortunes at Harrah’s.
It comes at the same time that Delaware was instituting sports parlay betting on NFL games, and advertising it on billboards right outside Harrah’s front door on I-95.

And it comes as word arrives that it appears as if finally the path has been cleared for the SugarHouse casino on the Philly waterfront to kick in. They now hope to be up and running next spring or summer.

The competition is only going to increase to shake the last final few coins from their customers’ pockets.

And if that’s not enough, table games are on the way, if the clods in Harrisburg ever get around to finishing the work on the legislation to put it in motion.

Welcome to Pennsylvania, where we make “slots” of memories.

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