Officials at Boyd Gaming’s Par-A-Dice Casino in East Peoria, Illinois recently announced nearly 40 jobs have been cut and video gambling machines in bars and restaurants, legal since 2012, are to blame.
Boyd Gaming Vice President of Corporate Communications David Strow said, “I think what we’ve seen in Illinois is pretty unique, I mean, in terms of having a video game industry spring up out of nowhere in just a three-year period.”
Currently nearly 22,000 video gambling machines are in use throughout Illinois. “Combined, that’s the equivalent of three Par-A-Dice-sized casinos competing with us that have come online just in the past three years. When you have video gaming available in such magnitudes across the state, it is having a severe impact on our business,” Strow said. Other riverboat casinos in Illinois also are feeling the impact, he said. The games generated more than $274 million dollars for the state in 2015.
Representatives at Par-A-Dice said revenues have declined by nearly $26 million since 2012, and attendance has dropped by a quarter-million visitors. No further job cuts are anticipated for the near future, a spokesperson said.
