Gaming in Delaware offers harness racing, horse tracks, simulcasting, golfing, and NASCAR, as well as great retail, entertainment, and dining venues. But Delaware gaming is on the move, and is meeting the border state competition head-on with three great properties offering new games, new sights, and definitely new experiences.
One of the newest experiences gaming enthusiasts will find is the placement of electronic table games. The Delaware State Lottery Commission and Shuffle Master™ Inc. signed a multi-terminal video lottery machine contract in the fall of 2006 calling for the initial placement of 54 units, or 270 seats, of the Table Master™ electronic table game platform among the three Delaware racinos. The Table Master units feature a diverse mix of blackjack and poker-based proprietary table game content.
Considered slot games by regulators, electronic table games are now part of advancing gaming technology that enhances the guest experience, and has received a wide range of customer acceptance. Electronic table games combine interactive technology with the community action of a traditional table game.
A social experience is part of the lure of the traditional table game. The dealer and pit boss create a cordial environment for players within the painted backdrop that features multiple shades of neon flashes, musical audio trails, crowd noise, and a range of slot game tones. The community of players at both the traditional and electronic gaming table experiences a certain gaming camaraderie that playing a solitary slot machine does not offer. But this will not be the immediate end to live-dealer games; realistic electronic dealers will now be found in the mix of gaming properties also offering live table games.
Because of this multiplayer technology, many jurisdictions that do not allow live table games and casinos that have limited floor space will now be able to offer them.
Electronic Table Game Advantages
Table Master offers five-player stations, as well as a variety of customizable options. Players can sit at their own station. They join the “community” of other table players seated at the console, just as in the traditional dealer-driven gaming environment. A video of table activity is shown in an animated fashion, where customers use the computerized screen to place bets.
With Table Master, there is greater flexibility in table wager amounts, offering a wider range than the standard games. Another advantage of electronic table gaming is the easy confirmation of every transaction during and after the game. Any dispute is resolved quickly. The Table Master system is compatible with multiple back-of-house systems.
Many slot manufacturers have, or will soon be introducing, various platforms of electronic table game products.
At the recent Reuters Hotels and Casinos Summit in Los Angeles, Shuffle Master CEO Mark Yoseloff said his company hopes to install 3000 electronic table games in Pennsylvania.
In Delaware, Shuffle Master has already placed 300 electronic table games & slot seats.
Delaware’s Table Game Market
Clearly, in this regional gaming market, Delaware is thinking ahead with the placement of these units. With Shuffle Master’s approval in the Pennsylvania gaming market and West Virginia’s legislation allowing table games, a very promising market for electronic table games will continue.
Delaware racino gaming is a 90 minute drive from the 11 Atlantic City gaming halls. Philadelphia is just over the bridge, already offering two newly opened racinos with two resort properties scheduled for ground breaking on the riverfront this spring. Competition is heating up—it will be up to the operators and the speed at which they receive regulatory approval to bring the new products to the floor.
The three racetracks operating in Delaware received approval to offer slot machine products in 1996. The slot machines are video lottery terminals operated in conjunction with the Delaware Lottery. Electronic table game products and community gaming units are just one of the latest offerings making a presence in the market. Last year, both Atronic and Aristocrat entered the Delaware market with a mix of slot products placed at all of the properties.
Delaware’s Gaming Opportunities
Dover Downs in Dover, Del., opened as a racetrack on Nov. 10, 1969. Among their many amenities is a slot floor of 2,700 units. They recently expanded their hotel from 232 rooms to 500 rooms, which will include spa suites by October 2007. They have also added a new slot area called TrackView and “Cashola,” an interstate progressive. The 240 games (placed at all three Delaware racinos) are tied into a multi-state progressive that includes Delaware, Rhode Island, and West Virginia. This progressive can easily top the $1 million mark. Cashola is the first multi-state progressive video lottery game offered in the United States.
Dover Downs is the first facility to tie together VLTs from different manufacturers and different central computer systems located in different states. Their recent addition of 24 Shuffle Master electronic table game platforms “has proven to be very popular with the customers,” Assistant Vice President of Slot Operations Stephen Keener said. The games include Blackjack, Three Card Poker®, Let it Ride Bonus® with 3 Card Bonus™, and Dragon Bonus® Baccarat. “Customers are visiting the property because they know we are offering this new gaming product,” Keener said. “This is a new market for us. It is creating new customers and providing the opportunity for new marketing growth.” Delaware has placed the remainder of the Table Master units between the other two racinos in the state.
Delaware Park and Racetrack has 24 Table Max units. Located in Wilmington, Del., directly across the New Jersey and Pennsylvania borders, Delaware Park offers two levels of gaming with about 3,000 slots. Also included is live racing year round that simulcasts to several dining venues and an 18-hole champion golf course.
At Midway Slots and Simulcast there are presently six Table Master units. Midway is located at the Delaware State Fairgrounds in Harrington. There is presently a three-phase expansion and renovation underway at the property. The plans include a new addition, more slot games, a bus center, lounge, and restaurants.
The 330-acre Delaware State Fair Grounds is also home to Harrington Raceway and the annual ten-day fair in July. The Kent County Tourism Convention and Visitors Bureau has deemed this area the state’s “growing entertainment complex.”
All three Delaware properties have extensive marketing programs, players’ clubs, and offer competitive complimentary items to their customers. The added Table Master units at the properties feature a diverse mix of blackjack and poker-based proprietary table game content, including Royal Match 21™ Blackjack, Three Card Poker® Let it Ride Bonus® with 3 Card Bonus™, and Dragon Bonus® Baccarat Electronic table game platforms, which are part of the present and future of gaming, and offer gaming customers a broader variety of product.
With the three Pennsylvania slot properties already responsible for a 2.9 percent dip in January’s Atlantic City gaming numbers from a year ago and the on-going debate about smokeless casinos in New Jersey becoming a reality on April 15, 2007, it is reassuring to see placement of a very competitive gaming product state-wide in Delaware.
Delaware is clearly ahead of the pack in making this move with Table Master.
Robert Ambrose has been in slot operations for 22 years. He can be reached at ramb16@juno.com.
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