Boyd Gaming is officially in the Pennsylvania market, having closed its $280.5 million purchase of Valley Forge Casino Resort. The company now gets to grapple for a piece of the crowded Philadelphia market. And don’t think Harrah’s Philadelphia 
won’t tout its Total Rewards as superior to controversy-enshrouded B Connected. (Boyd really kicked over a hornet’s nest when it redid that loyalty program mid-year.) Boyd plans to enlarge the 600-slot, 50-table casino floor, adding 250 slots and a FanDuel sports book. As Boyd spokesman David Strow said,“The number of markets available to us at the moment is limited; currently, only a few states across the U.S. currently allow sports wagering.” FanDuel will also be Boyd’s partner in Internet gambling. Looking past Pennsylvania, will Boyd enter the lists for the acquisition of Jack Entertainment on sit out that tourney?
Elsewhere in the Keystone State, table game numbers are in and Sands Bethlehem got soaked, down 6% to $19 million, while Parx Casino cleaned up, jumping 8.5% to $17.5 million. Penn National 
Gaming, meanwhile, unveiled the look of Hollywood Casino York, which will be in keeping with Penn’s glamor-driven look, at least judging by the rendering (shown).
* Good news, Harold Moret. Your Casino Dominoes has been adopted by a Downtown casino. Bad news, it’s the Plaza Hotel, one of the lowest on the food chain, thanks to absentee owner Tamares Group. A press release explains how the game is played: 
“Inspired by the classic game of dominoes, Casino Dominoes utilizes up to six players at once. Players are dealt three cards and one connector card each, with the goal of matching their domino cards to the connector card, using standard domino rules. Scoring is calculated in multiples of five. The more points collected, the higher the payout. Players can win up to 500 to 1 on a wager, with the option of placing doubles side bets.”
A slot adaptation is said to be on the way. Good luck, Mr. Moret (a product of UNLV‘s Casino Operations Program). The inventor is also the first African-American game designer to have his product installed on a casino floor. That it has taken so long for that to happen is nothing short of a disgrace. The industry should be ashamed of itself.
* Kudos to Encore Boston Harbor for donating $100,000 toward relief efforts for victims of the Merrimack Valley gas explosions. While I’m sure CEO Mike, er, Matt Maddox hopes this gains him brownie points with the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, it’s also a case of a casino company stepping forward to do the right thing, and we hope it’s the beginning of a long and fruitful Wynn Resorts philanthropic relationship with the Bay State.
* An excellent enterprise story in Sheldon Adelson‘s Las Vegas Review-Journal tries to untie the Gordian knot that is whether or not sports betting influences games. Even before it was legalized across the country last summer, betting among student athletes was rampant. The NCAA would like sports betting to go back in the closet but this is a genie that cannot be rebottled, assuming it was ever effectively confined at all.
* Speaking of controversy, a storm-beset Ponca Tribe casino , set to open in October in Carter Lake, Iowa, has made its first donation to its host city, cutting a check for $250,000. The Ponca Tribe has kept its shoulder to the wheel despite litigation from 
Council Bluffs, Iowa and Nebraska (through which you have to drive to reach Carter Lake). The tribe is expected to pay Carter Lake $400K-$500K a year toward community betterment. Prairie Flower Casino, which sits a block from a La Quinta Inn, will start operations near Halloween with 200 slots. Mayor Ron Cumberledge remarked that “It’s the start of something new in that part of town. We’ve seen that ground sit there for my whole lifetime.” All the more reason to thank the Ponca Tribe.
Its Matt Maddox, not Mike
Duly noted.