Del Lago Resort & Casino has joined three of New York’s four new commercial casinos in gaining approval to cut its inventory of slots and table games.
The state Gaming Commission gave the struggling Finger Lakes resort the OK to reduce machine numbers by 15 percent and tables by 14 percent, bringing the property down to 1,650 slots and 66 tables from the regulatory mandate of 1,950 slots and 84 tables it opened with in February 2017.
In approving the request, the commission’s acting executive director, Rob Williams, said, “Staff found that the capital investment made exceeded that which was required, that slot utilization data illustrated an overabundance of slot assets exposed for play.”
All four of the casinos have fallen short of the win figures they forecast prior to the commercial industry’s debut in a crowded New York gaming market at the end of 2016. So far this year, the $400 million del Lago, which is virtually surrounded by an entrenched tribal casino industry, has averaged about $162 in daily win per slot. Tioga Downs, which faces less competition farther south near the Pennsylvania border, has averaged close to $200 a day. Resorts World Catskills, which opened last February at a cost of nearly $1 billion𑁋the newest and largest of the four and the closest to New York City𑁋has managed only $122.
Tioga Downs was earlier approved to go from 942 slots to 892. Resorts World was allowed to shed a full 21 percent of its slots and 23 percent of its tables.
Last month, Resorts World owner Empire Resorts, which also owns the nearby Monticello Raceway, closed the VLT casino that had operated at the harness track since 2004. Those 1,100 machines are expected to be redistributed among new and existing OTBs in the region.
