Executives of Delaware’s struggling casino industry are once again going to the state legislature seeking breaks on an effective 60 percent-plus revenue tax and fees they say are causing layoffs and delaying any capital expenditures.
Ed Sutor, CEO of the Dover Downs racino, testified last week before the state’s Video Lottery Advisory Council, a panel of state government officials and lawmakers charged with making recommendations to the legislature on measures that will help the casino industry, which has struggled since competition in Maryland heated up a few years ago.
The panel is expected to make the same recommendations it has for the previous two years—that the table game revenue tax should be reduced to 15 percent, in line with neighboring states, instead of the current effective rate of 40 percent. Also expected is a recommendation that labor costs for tables be deducted before splitting the revenue, and the creation of tax credits for capital expenditures, and reductions in fees associated with licensing and slot purchases.
Essentially, the measures, which would save casinos around $10 million a year, are the same ones that have been rejected by lawmakers for the past two years.
Sutor told the panel the industry has not choice but to keep trying to “get the relief we need, noting that his casino alone has seen 34 consecutive quarters of year-on-year revenue declines, and “the additional competition is coming,” referring to the MGM National Harbor resort expected to open next year, and the addition of a hotel to Maryland Live! outside Baltimore.
“Both of those are going to have an impact on the upper end of our market,” Sutor said.
