December 30th, 2010 – by Glen Farmer
The Mount Airy Casino Resort in Pennsylvania is set to remove 300 slot machines from their gaming floor. The casino apparently feels that having over 2,400 slot machines is too many.
Before receiving approval of removing 150 machines, Mount Airy had originally petitioned to drop 300 from their gaming floor. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board voted and approved the request earlier this month after Mount Airy dropped the number to 150 machines. The casino will be entitled to remove the slot machines after the gaming board’s executive director approves the changes in the casino’s floor plan.
This will leave 2,275 slot machines in the casino.
Casino officials had decided to take the route of reducing their slots to more adequately serve their customers. Having an overlapping market with Sands Bethlehem has caused Mount Airy to have to share their market, which has been less than beneficial to the casino’s revenue.
Mount Airy officials have also stated that they wish to make the gaming floor less crowded. “We just want to make sure there’s more access and elbow room for our customers,” stated Mount Airy spokeswoman Wendy Wilson.
The Gaming Control Board had its own fears over Mount Airy’s request, including whether or not the casino was going to attempt to add a new set of table games to replace the slots or whether or not jobs would be cut due to possibly lower terminal revenue. Mount Airy fired back with the assurance that no new table games will be added, nor will layoffs occur. They stress the fact that the discontinued slots would be used to repair other machines in use and drive down operating costs.