Rivers Casino Pittsburgh was successful with its request to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) to remove 302 slot machines from its gambling floor. The state’s gambling regulator approved the measure on Wednesday at its monthly meeting.
placing some of the blame on unregulated skill games
Four other casinos over the past year in the Keystone State have made similar requests. The current demand for these types of games at the Rivers Casino Pittsburgh is not near the supply, with the casinos placing some of the blame on unregulated skill games that are found around the state in establishments like bars and gas stations. The machines that will be removed are on average 11 years old and significantly underperform the newer ones.
Speaking at the meeting on Wednesday, the property’s general manager Andre Barnabei likened the selection of slot machines to a car lot, saying that having a massive location means nothing because ”if you don’t have the right cars on the lot, you’re not going to sell anything.”
The casino plans to add new, bigger machines during the summer, investing more than $2m to do so. It still has the third-most slots in the state, behind only Wind Creek Casino and Parx Casino.