They say the 87 percent requirement is high compared to nearby states. In their memorandum, the casinos also asked the state to roll back - from 87 percent to 85 percent - the lowest average amount that individual slot machines must pay out from bets over a year. They also say the plan would provide them economic parity with casinos in states offering more generous financial cushions than Maryland. The proposal “allows for more competitive customer offers,” the casinos wrote in a memorandum to the agency. “You want people to know they can win at your place.”Ĭasinos say the proposal would give them needed flexibility to develop innovative slots offerings with widely varying payouts. “Like any place, we’re going to have a large mixture,” Heiskell said of slots payouts. That placed Maryland behind Delaware’s 92.23 percent, Ohio’s 91.62 percent and New Jersey’s 91.01 percent, but ahead of Pennsylvania’s 90.01 percent and West Virginia’s 89.86 percent. The state’s payout average from July 2013 to June 2014 was 90.38 percent, according to the American Casino Guide.

So there is a potential revenue upside to the state on this.”Ĭurrently, Maryland is “right in the ballpark” compared to neighboring states in its slots floor average, encompassing all five casinos, LaBoy said. “The flip side is that the hold would increase.

“The patrons would end up receiving less,” said Charles LaBoy, the state’s assistant director for gaming.

The casinos want to lower the minimum payout to 85 percent, which would increase the casinos’ “hold” - the amount of wagers retained from slots play. Under the proposal, the state would relax a requirement that each casino must pay out an average of 90 percent to 95 percent of the money bet at its machines over the course of a year. The request was included among a group of recommendations the casinos recently submitted to the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency, according to documents obtained by The Baltimore Sun in a Maryland Public Information Act request. Maryland’s five casinos have asked the state to let them reduce required payouts on slot machines - a move that could shift tens of millions of dollars in winnings from customers to the casinos, state records show. Baltimore Sun eNewspaper Home Page Close Menu

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