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The competition for gamblers in the Northeastern corridor of the United States continues.  While some casinos in New Jersey are attempting to appeal to player nostalgia by offering hard to find coin based slot machines, other states are simply adding more machines in new locations.

The Valley Forge Convention Center has just been approved to carry 500 slot machines by state regulators in Pennsylvania.  The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board finally gave the green light to the convention center’s application for slot machines. 

Back in 2004 Pennsylvania legalized slot machines as a way to cut taxes and to compete with Atlantic City for gambling revenues.  The Pennsylvania gaming control board was put in charge of distributing 14 operating licenses for casinos.  Two licenses were reserved for slot machines at resort locations.  The Valley Forge Convention Center was granted on of those exclusive resort licenses.

500 new slot machines is really a small number when compared to the slot machines operating at the other venues.  Each venue paid up to $50 million dollars for the license alone, the state benefited highly from the licensing process.  However each license allowed each venue to carry as many as 5,000 slot machines, ten times the amount currently offered by the Valley Forge Convention Center.  There is still one license left to be distributed by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.

It is not likely that with 500 slot machines, the rest of the casinos in the area are concerned about real competition from the Valley Forge Convention Center.  At this point Valley Forge is getting their modest piece of the pie that is gaming in Pennsylvania.

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