{"id":23000,"date":"2019-02-28T21:07:25","date_gmt":"2019-02-28T22:07:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pokerscout.com\/?p=23000"},"modified":"2019-03-05T14:14:38","modified_gmt":"2019-03-05T14:14:38","slug":"parx-ceo-takes-aim-at-online-gambling-non-pa-companies-and-mini-casinos-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pokerscout.com\/parx-ceo-takes-aim-at-online-gambling-non-pa-companies-and-mini-casinos-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Parx CEO Takes Aim At Online Gambling, Non-PA Companies, And Mini-Casinos"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There are plenty of people that are not big fans of online gambling expansion in Pennsylvania. One that may sound surprising is <strong>Parx CEO, Anthony Ricci<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>At a Thursday <strong>PA Gaming Control Board<\/strong> (PGCB) hearing regarding Parx Casino\u2019s license renewal, Ricci <a href=\"https:\/\/gamingcontrolboard.pa.gov\/?p=141\">sounded off<\/a> to the board regarding just about every facet of the 2017 gambling bill.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"ricci_is_enthusiastic_about_retail_sports_betting\">Ricci is enthusiastic about retail sports betting<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>That is not to say Ricci wasn\u2019t enthusing about some elements of gambling expansion. He said the casino is already reaping the benefits of <strong>Parx Sportsbook<\/strong>. When it comes to sportsbook customers, Ricci says it is a new customer the casino is very excited about:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201c[Customers] skews a little younger, it does. And people who haven\u2019t come to the casino previously, so we\u2019re pleased about that. It\u2019s attracting a different audience. That\u2019s why we want to proceed with the construction of a permanent sportsbook as an attraction to draw people in, particularly during football season.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Ricci did admit that these new people at Parx are <strong>not interested<\/strong> in every gaming offering.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat sports bettor isn\u2019t a slots customer,\u201d he said. \u201cThey could be tables games or poker though.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"ricci_sounds_off_on_supposed_cannibalization_concerns\">Ricci sounds off on supposed cannibalization concerns<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>When asked about <strong>potential cannibalization<\/strong> of these new sportsbook customers, Ricci was happy to paint a worst-case scenario that indicted multiple pieces of gambling expansion.<\/p>\n<p>First, he came after online betting:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cIt\u2019s a legitimate concern\u2026It\u2019s not something Bob Green and I were advocating for because you\u2019re combining what is potentially one addictive behavior with another addictive behavior on a cell phone. But that\u2019s the law now. It\u2019s our industry, we have to compete as well as we can.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Ricci went on to compare the plight of retail stores like<strong> J.C. Penney<\/strong> going out of business in the era of online shopping to what might befall Parx and other casinos after mobile gaming launches.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"mgm_and_golden_nugget_subjects_of_criticism\">MGM and Golden Nugget subjects of criticism<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Two companies that seemed to really draw his ire are the two outside entities petitioning their way into the PA online gambling market. PGCB opened up the interactive gaming license process to <strong>qualified gaming entities<\/strong> (QGEs) after there were several unused interactive licenses<strong>. Golden Nugget NJ<\/strong>, the top-performing NJ online casino, and <strong>MGM\u2019s Borgata Casino<\/strong> each applied.<\/p>\n<p>PGCB approved the two as QGEs in January. That is not stopping Ricci from taking shots at the two groups, suggesting they may not have the state\u2019s best interests in mind:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cOne of the concerns is that you have other operators coming into the state the way this process is conducted that may not have brick and mortar investment. All they\u2019ve got is a server and they could spend a lot of money marketing, maybe not be so intelligent in what they give a customer to attract them because there is a very low cost of entry for them and they\u2019ll take a shot. It could destabilize the situation.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Both properties operate online casino businesses in New Jersey. Golden Nugget <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prnewswire.com\/news-releases\/nj-online-casinos-soar-to-31-7-million-in-online-casino-revenue-to-set-record-month-300796136.html\">took in<\/a> an astonishing $12.18 million in online casino revenue last month. It is also worth noting several other non-native companies have stake in the PA game thanks to a series of <strong>online gambling partnerships<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"can_you_compare_nj_online_casinos_to_pa\">Can you compare NJ online casinos to PA?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Towards the end of his questioning, Ricci really zeroed in on the <strong>population disbursement<\/strong> when it comes to PA casinos. Currently, around <strong>68 percent<\/strong> of the population lives<strong> within 25 miles<\/strong> of a casino.<\/p>\n<p>However, Ricci notes that number will jump to <strong>close to 90 percent<\/strong> once the five <strong>mini-casinos<\/strong> open. That is without even considering the <strong>online market<\/strong> expected to launch this July.<\/p>\n<p>The Parx leader admitted that, now that it is law, Parx will aim to be the top PA online gaming provider. He still worries the PGCB and other casinos will spend too much time trying to grow the new market instead of focusing on what matters.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThere is a concern it could be a problem for the brick and mortar, which is where the jobs are, where the capital investment is. I\u2019m a bit concerned about the long-term prospects.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Many industry experts point to how the New Jersey online market resulted in brick and mortar casino<strong> growth<\/strong> as well as a healthy new revenue generator. Ricci though, says you <strong>cannot possibly compare<\/strong> the two.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNinety-five percent of the New Jersey residents are more than 25 miles away from a casino in New Jersey,\u201d he said. When asked if online cannibalized Atlantic City, he balked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf course not. Nobody lives around Atlantic City.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So, when it comes to how online will impact PA, Ricci remains insistent that there is <strong>no way to tell<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cNobody knows, there\u2019s no history on this.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Even State Senator <strong>Robert Tomlinson<\/strong>, who spoke in favor of Parx as a community partner backed Ricci up. He described New Jersey\u2019s online gaming approach as a \u201cdefensive mechanism\u201d to try and win back residents going to<strong> Philadelphia casinos<\/strong>. Tomlinson <strong>voted against<\/strong> the online gambling expansion package and regularly supports Parx\u2019s point of view about gaming in PA.<\/p>\n<h2><span id=\"nothing_new\">Nothing new<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Ricci\u2019s anti-online stance <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onlinepokerreport.com\/24619\/inside-parx-pa-online-gambling-dissent\/\">is nothing new<\/a>. However, this important appearance in front of the PGCB might make regulators even more gun shy than they already are in the wake of the new <strong>DOJ Wire Act<\/strong> opinion.<\/p>\n<p>The post Parx CEO Takes Aim At Online Gambling, Non-PA Companies, And Mini-Casinos appeared first on Play Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are plenty of people that are not big fans of online gambling expansion in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","vebbtech_seo_disable_yoast":false,"vebbtech_seo_hide_author":false,"vebbtech_seo_hide_date":false,"vebbtech_seo_hide_factchecker":false,"vebbtech_seo_fact_check_enabled":false,"vebbtech_seo_post_reviewer":0,"vebbtech_seo_post_review_date":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-23000","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-link","6":"category-news-category","7":"post_format-post-format-link"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Parx CEO Takes Aim At Online Gambling, Non-PA Companies, And Mini-Casinos -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pokerscout.com\/parx-ceo-takes-aim-at-online-gambling-non-pa-companies-and-mini-casinos-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Parx CEO Takes Aim At Online Gambling, Non-PA Companies, And Mini-Casinos -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There are plenty of people that are not big fans of online gambling expansion in [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pokerscout.com\/parx-ceo-takes-aim-at-online-gambling-non-pa-companies-and-mini-casinos-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-02-28T22:07:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-03-05T14:14:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pokerscout.com\/parx-ceo-takes-aim-at-online-gambling-non-pa-companies-and-mini-casinos-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pokerscout.com\/parx-ceo-takes-aim-at-online-gambling-non-pa-companies-and-mini-casinos-2\/\",\"name\":\"Parx CEO Takes Aim At Online Gambling, Non-PA Companies, And Mini-Casinos -\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pokerscout.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-02-28T22:07:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-03-05T14:14:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pokerscout.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7f5b2fa51bd1925f5937c15b7388df28\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pokerscout.com\/parx-ceo-takes-aim-at-online-gambling-non-pa-companies-and-mini-casinos-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pokerscout.com\/parx-ceo-takes-aim-at-online-gambling-non-pa-companies-and-mini-casinos-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pokerscout.com\/parx-ceo-takes-aim-at-online-gambling-non-pa-companies-and-mini-casinos-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.pokerscout.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Parx CEO Takes Aim At Online Gambling, Non-PA Companies, And Mini-Casinos\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pokerscout.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pokerscout.com\/\",\"name\":\"\",\"description\":\"Poker Sites Traffic Report &amp; 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