Twin River, which operates two casinos in Rhode Island, wants to double the credit limit for high rollers up to $100,000 and get a waiver from the state law that requires bulletproof windows for cashiers.
It’s all needed to make Twin River casinos more competitive to keep from losing state residents to Massachusetts.
The casino company also wants to talk the state into allocating more money for marketing. Rhode Island already chips in $6 million for marketing, money it probably considers well spent since gaming is the third largest source of state revenue. Last year that was about $300 million
But will lawmakers consider that even larger expenditures are called for. A bill in the legislature allow the company to be reimbursed for up to $1.4 million in marketing its new Tiverton casino. To get that much it would have to spend $2.9 million in marketing.
Twin River Senior Vice President Craig Eaton told lawmakers last week, “With the higher tax rate at certain levels of spend it just doesn’t make sense for the facility to spend unless there is a shared expense.”
The increased expenditure is needed to blunt a promotional campaign launched by Massachusetts in anticipation of the opening of the $2.6 billion Encore Boston Harbor June 23.
Adi Dhandhania, another Twin River executive, added, “We have to spend proportionately to the slot machine profits at the location so the customers stay loyal to the location.”
If not, the casino might lose as much as 10 percent in slots revenue, which would translate into losses of up to $6 million to the state.
The gaming company also argued for doubling the credit limit from $50,000 to $100,000. This would put it on par with casinos in Las Vegas, said Eaton. The casino bears all the risk for extending credit, not the taxpayers, he said.
He also argued for an exemption to state law to allow the two casinos to have cashier windows without the heavy bulletproof glass. No one has tried to rob a cash window at the casino in more than ten years, he said.
Meanwhile, in a separate but related development, the Rhode Island lottery released figures that sports wagers for almost $17 million were placed on professional sports in April. That includes both the Lincoln and Tiverton casinos, who according to the figures, paid out $15 million in winning bets.
The $2 million profit for the state is the highest since sports betting was unveiled in Lincoln the day after Thanksgiving. The April numbers owe to an NCAA tournament championship game and the start of NBA and NHL players said Revenue Department spokesman Paul Grimaldi.
Rhode Island severely overestimated how much money it would make in the first year of operation. It had projected $11.5 million for the fiscal year, and the actual amount as the June 30 cut-off approaches is $3.9 million.
Next year’s fiscal year target has been downgraded from $22.7 million to $15 million.
