'Slots Don’t Help Handle'

Published: February 4, 2011 04:03 pm EST

'Slots don’t help handle' was the message given to stock analysts and investors in Penn National Gaming yesterday by Peter Carlino, the rampagingly aggressive company’s president and chief executive officer

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“Some tracks with slots run the same old horses for two or three times as much money,” he said, adding, “It does nothing to increase handle, and nothing will change that demographic.”

Carlino made it clear that he feels they drive purses but not profits. He said slots can help agriculture, but that Penn National will “be tough and brutal on ratcheting down costs because we have to. We’re not running a public charity.”

(Harness Tracks of America)

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Comments

So what you are saying is that blackjack doesn't increase the amount of wagering on slots or is it that adding a poker room doesn't increase the amount of money bet on the crap table. The advantage of saying stupid things in the press is that they don't know how really dumb that comment is when discussing the effect of slots. Who ever suggested that adding a less expensive more easily understandable product at a gambling establishment would benefit the other forms of gaming.

The demographic Mr Carino is that you were given a franchise to print money. In exchange you promised to promote and run a quality race program and by the sounds of your comments you thought they said destroy and vilify the racing industry. My hope is that before racing is destroyed that someone in some government somewhere will run a tutorial for racetrack owners on how they got the slots and better yet how they are going to keep them!

Horse racing used to have all the legal gambling and over the years corruption ,cheating and fixing of races (percieved or actual)hurt the industry. General public doesn't understand how horse that has won 3 races in a row now finishes last whether being up in class, soreness or sickness. They just think non effort. Casino Rama (penn gaming) has been fined several times for running their machines too tight hmmm cheating on something that is already fixed in the house's favour.

I will never get enough of hearing the slot are at the racetracks because the " horsemen" allowed them.
In Ontario it was made no secret by several raceways that without additional revenue there would be several racetrack closing their doors forever joining the likes of Orangeville, Kingston , Goderich, Leamington and even Greenwood.
This noble gesture was never done for the sake of the track owners.
Just saying.

Norm

It would make no difference who partners up with the race game, the race game will always be the money draining side of the partnership and that is becoming crystal clear to governments and that is why the tracks better enjoy the slot revenue when the have it because in 20 or 30 years time as the wager continues to plummet it will eventually be taken from them. The race game need not worry about anyone shutting them down other then themselves, as they are more then capable of continuing to mismanage things to the point where they go the way of the dinosaur all on there own, but once again lets not expect the race game to bear any responsibility for the situation they find themselves in today.

I do love the way these companies forget the only reason they are permitted to have a slot license is BECAUSE of HORSERACING...not in spite of it. A few short years and the honeymoon is over. I think it is safe to say they feel that the political environment in the states is ripe for this type of rhetoric...to paraphrase "Slots do not grow handle so we should shut down horseracing"...wait, what? Why is it not the HORSEPEOPLE who are saying "Penn National is not doing an acceptable job of leveraging the revenue (they are fortunate to be sharing in) generated at racing facilities into an increase in the racing handle...they need to do better or we will need to consider other partnership opportunities." And for the record many "public charities" are funded through the revenue generated from gaming. Did the CEO of Penn National forget they have an exclusive licence to run slot operations...just what is that worth? And why is it these large multi-Billion dollar gaming companies have such a dodgey track record of due diligence? Just sayin.

Darryl

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