New PGCB report finds casinos are in a more giving mood than last year

Charitable giving and community eclipsed numbers as Pennsylvania’s 12 brick-and-mortar casinos revived so strongly during the fiscal year 2018-19 after a huge setback in 2017-18. This is shown in the annual diversity report made by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.

Charity giving and community numbers had dipped more than $5 million between 2016-17 when more than $19 million was given and dropped to $14 million in the next fiscal year. The latter survey conducted in 2018-19 reveals the number surging upwards to $14,157,307.

One of the casinos with a record of leading the table chart, Parx Casino, contributed more in excess of $10 million during the last fiscal year. The report clearly indicates that Parx Casino solely accounts for 70% charitable funds provided by all the casinos combined during the past three years.

The numbers seem invariable when taken into account the things like race and gender provided by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. Casinos employed a total of 16,717 people at the end of the last fiscal year. But it was slightly more in 2015 and 2016 where the number shows 18,033 employees. This demonstrates a reduction in employees.

Charitable and community giving numbers

Casinos, in general, have donated in excess of $114 million to charity or community since 2006, the PGCB report asserted. The PGCB’s Director of Diversity Mozelle Daniels cast his view as “ Employees at the casinos consistently volunteer thousands of hours yearly to numerous organizations, fundraisers, neighbourhood revitalization efforts, and educational pursuits throughout the commonwealth. This support has led to greater economic success locally, regionally, and statewide, thereby creating revenue streams and income that benefit and strengthen everyone involved. The fiscal year of 2016-17 totally accounted for $19,115,101 which is the highest amount in the last three years”.

Harrah’s minuscule contribution

Harrah’s Philadelphia Casino is a medium-sized property with 1,205 employees at the end of the last fiscal year. The casino is certainly subnormal in donating funds. Three years ago, Harrah just contributed $52,517 which surged to $102,360 in 2017-18 and tumbled again to $72,257 in the last year. For comparison, a far smaller casino Lady Luck accounted for $328,629 which exceeds the giving of Harrah. SugarHouse Casino has constantly given funds of $1.3 million over the three years.

Parx outstrip its counterparts

For the past three years followed in the report, nearly $25 million was donated by Parx, which is one of the notable casino properties in the country outside of Nevada. It is the top revenue-generating brick-and-mortar casino in PA. Parx had given more than $14 million during the period 2016-17 and numbers faced a dramatic fall in 2017-18 as $9.8 million. The recent year number indicates that it has increased the amount by $1 million.

Minorities in casino employment

Residents of PA constitutes 90% casino workforce. About 43% of casino employees are female which remains solid in recent years. Minorities attribute to 38% of the total casino workforce. In terms of percentage, whites declined from 64% to 62%. Blacks increased narrowly to 15%. Hispanics surge to 8%. Asians extended from 12% to 13%. The Executive director of PGCB, Kevin O’ Toole said: “The numbers show casinos do engage in good faith efforts throughout the year to promote and ensure diversity and inclusiveness in all aspects of their casino operations”.