Area casinos hogging all Chester's business

 DELAWARE COUNTY. Two years after Harrah's Casino opened to high hopes of breathing new life into Chester's depressed economy, the riverfront slots parlor is the only one of Pennsylvania's seven established casinos to experience a dip in revenue this year.

For the eighth month, the casino made less money than it had the previous year and experts blame the slowdown on growing competition, more "comps" from Atlantic City's similarly struggling casinos and the recession. Harrah's revenue between June 2008 and June 2009 is down more than $9 million — 3.5 percent — compared to the previous year.

"Atlantic City is giving more and more incentives to go down there, and because Atlantic City is doing so poorly, they’re trying to get it from Pennsylvania," Widener University economics professor Joseph Fuhr said.

Fuhr added that the two planned Philadelphia casinos will dip even further into revenue at Harrah's and Philadelphia Park in Bensalem, which saw an 11 percent revenue increase this year.

SugarHouse Casino plans to open an interim gaming facility by year's end, while Foxwoods hopes to be up and running next year. Nonetheless, those operators say they are not deterred by the factors effecting the nearest competition.

"Philadelphia is as robust a market as we’ve seen and we’re confident in our project," Foxwoods' spokeswoman Maureen Garrity said.

Harrah's general manager, Vince Donlevie, declined to comment on the slump, citing marketing reasons.

"I'd probably prefer not to comment," he said.