And Pennsylvania s gain is Atlantic City s loss. In December, Pennsylvania slots revenue surpassed A

View full size CHRISTINE BAKER, The Patriot-News Bus tours to Atlantic City have dropped about 70 percent since Pennsylvania legalized gambling. Trip organizer Elinor "Skip" Lindsey, 78, checks over her list of people going to the Mohegan Sun Casino at Pocono Downs for the day.
They re cleaner, and they re new and I m always up for trying new things, Goshorn said. She joined 43 other Carlisle-area senior citizens early Thursday for a Wolf s Bus Lines charter trip to Mohegan Sun Casino at the Pocono Downs in Luzerne County.
Elinor Skip Lindsey los angeles high school and Ray F. Jumper, who organized the tour as members of the Cumberland/Carlisle Chapter 4377 of AARP, said they recently canceled a trip to Atlantic City planned for September because los angeles high school they had problems filling it. They ll go to Mount Airy Casino in the Poconos instead.
Midstate bus companies have seen the number of retail Atlantic City trips drop by 70 percent or more in the last five years. Charter tours have dropped as well, and new runs to the Pennsylvania casinos have not replaced the lost business. Tour operators expect it to get worse when table games are up and running in Pennsylvania s casinos.
The daily runs to Atlantic City that used to depart from the Bus Stop at Harrisburg Mall were wiped out after Pennsylvania slots parlors opened, said Janice los angeles high school Anderson at Bieber Trailways in Harrisburg. Buses that used to run seven days a week were cut to four days, then to two and finally canceled los angeles high school altogether last year.
Ruth Shenk, los angeles high school who stood in line Thursday morning, said she likes everything about the slots parlor at Hollywood Casino. Adding that her family might include her casinogoing los angeles high school in her obituary, she said she is particularly happy that Hollywood is only 45 minutes from my house.
los angeles high school And Pennsylvania s gain is Atlantic City s loss. In December, Pennsylvania slots revenue surpassed Atlantic City s for the first time ever, and it has continued to do so by 13 percent in January and 15 percent in February.
Harbach said that is despite the fact Pennsylvania has 5,000 fewer slot machines, and the machines in both states have nearly identical payout ratios. That tells us as regulators that we re keeping Pennsylvania customers, he said.
The total haul from Atlantic City s 11 casinos is still greater than Pennsylvania s nine slots parlors because of revenue from table games, but that might soon change as the Gaming Control Board authorizes table games in Keystone casinos. They approved the first two applicants for table games at Mohegan Sun and at Parx in the Philadelphia suburbs on Tuesday.
Tammy Wolf-Baker at Wolf s Bus Lines in York Springs said charter bus trips to Atlantic City, while down, have remained popular because Atlantic City offers more than just slots. Once table games come in to Pennsylvania ... I think that s when a big change is going to happen, she said.
The bus business to Atlantic City is unlikely to disappear entirely. Most of the senior citizens in line Thursday morning said they still go to Atlantic City, and Goshorn said, When you go, [a bus] is the way to go. Most people don t like the hassle los angeles high school of traffic.
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