PA Approves Video Blackjack

Pennsylvania is continuing to tighten the screws on the Atlantic City gaming market with the approval this week of a new video blackjack game from shuffle Master. The game was approved by the state’s gaming regulators and mimics the experience of a live Blackjack game.

This approval apparently clears the way for other popular table games such as Three Card Poker and Texas Hold ‘em to achieve legal video versions. Approvals on those and other games should be achieved more easily, according to an analyst’s letter from Bear Sterns.

Though table games are currently banned in the state for now – it’s possible they could get legalized eventually, experts say – these games are able to skirt the law. That’s because these games can be programmed to randomize results in a way that’s the same as a slot machine. Thus they fall under the same category. The game is already legal in Nevada, where Shuffle Master is located.

The approval of this game in Pennsylvania looks like to nudge open the door to table game legalization by giving players the sense they are playing a true blackjack game. Though the odds of winning a hand will not be dependant on cards drawn by other players, the experience should be very similar to playing at a real table. In fact, the digital dealer beckons players to place bets.

"It's very early in a category that we ultimately expect will be of great importance to our industry," Mark L. Yoseloff, Shuffle Master's chairman and CEO told the AP.

By adding this game to its casinos, some analysts predict it could siphon more business away from the Atlantic City gaming market; at least when it comes to day trippers who would be able to stick closer to home and still have a similar experience. For their part, casino executives in Atlantic City have been investing billions to transform their casinos into full fledged multi-day resort destinations in an attempt to become more like a Las Vegas East. It’s been a successful formula that had been bringing the market record profits until the money geyser was stanched by Pennsylvania slots.

While it is too early to tell if the games will take off in Pennsylvania, all indications are it will be a success. Executives at Philadelphia Park have indicated they would install the game if their application to expand their number of machines is approved. Currently they have the maximum 2,100 allowed and are looking to add more than 300 additional devices.

‘We think that they will be very popular with those players who actually enjoy table games," Philadelphia Park president Bob Green said.

Robert Soper, the president and chief executive of Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs near Wilkes-Barre, said the company has no concrete plans to buy the games, but is very interested. "It offers a new dynamic, a new form of entertainment," Soper told the AP.

The games, which can cost as much as $135,000 each, can play up to five people at once. They feature two oversized flat panel televisions per person that helps draw the player into the game. The games are already featured in slot parlors in Delaware, which is also trying to chip away some of Atlantic City’s business, and in Arkansas too.

So far this year, Pennsylvania’s four open casinos have generated more than $119 million for the sate via taxes and more than $98 million for the slot parlor operators. More than $2.3 billion has been wagered and more than $2.1 billion has been paid out.

Another 10 slot parlors are expected to open throughout the state during the next couple of years, including two in downtown Philadelphia and one in Pittsburgh, the state’s two largest cities.

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