Free money!

The boys in accounting won't be happy about this:

"An offer of $500 in free slot-machine playing credits was accidentally mailed to 55,000 gambling customers, leaving a Pennsylvania casino scrambling to placate customers and figure out how the mistake happened. Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course decided to partially honor the offer on Monday after frantically calling tens of thousands of customers over the weekend," reports the AP.

The problem? The free-play ticket -- which also included two free trips to the casino's buffet -- was supposed to be sent to only 1,000 of the casino's top customers. But because of a mixup at the casino's direct-mail contractor, the promotion was sent to 55,000 customers. Of each of them had redeemed the full value of the ticket, it would have cost Hollywood Casino more than $29 million.

Dispatches from the east

The casinos in Atlantic City are mired in a year-long losing streak, but that's not the case for one of the country's biggest casino suppliers:

"Somehow, Pleasantville-based AC Coin has avoided the economic woes befalling the rest of the gaming business, including the slot machine suppliers. While most of the industry has been shrinking, AC Coin plans to boost production by 30 percent next year as it continues to develop new slot games in a highly competitive market."

AC Coin & Slot builds and services slot machines in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

... Don Barden isn't the only one missing debt payments:

"Facing tough competition and sliding revenue amid the economic meltdown, Trump Entertainment Resorts will have to skip a $53.1 million interest payment scheduled for Monday [in] order to maintain sufficient liquidity. The Atlantic City, N.J., casino operator, with about $1.25 billion worth of the notes outstanding, said late Friday that it has a 30-day grace period to pay up and will meanwhile seek talks with its lenders to revamp its capital structure and improve its liquidity."

... You'll be happy to know that the contractors building Philadelphia's Sugarhouse casino are not digging on the site of Ben Franklin's favorite brothel, or anything else that might have survived from the colonial period:

"It's not Batchelor's Hall, probably just a house from 1873. That is the conclusion of archaeologists hired by SugarHouse Casino to investigate a foundation unearthed two weeks ago on the 22-acre property where the slots parlor is to be built. But the 15-page report filed yesterday with the Army Corps of Engineers did not change the mind of local historian Torben Jenk. He has insisted for months that an important building from 1729 - a club for educated men called Batchelor's Hall - stood on the site." 

Dispatches from the south

Ever since Pennsylvania legalized slot machines, its racing purses have increased, drawing better jockeys and better thoroughbreds and standardbreds. Will all that change once Maryland, with its deep horse racing roots, opens its casinos?

The Patriot-News of Harrisburg tries to answer the question:

"Maryland is home to the Preakness Stakes, the second jewel in horse racing's Triple Crown. But for the last few years, Maryland's two racetracks -- Pimlico and Laurel -- have watched helplessly as horse owners left the state for larger purses in neighboring states, such as Pennsylvania, that have legalized slots gambling. Pennsylvania, particularly the suburbs near Bensalem's Philadelphia Park, has probably benefited the most from Maryland's inability to offer competitive purses. Wayne Wright, executive secretary of the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association Inc., recalled Maryland owners pulling up stakes and moving near Philadelphia on the promise that the Keystone State would get slots. ... 'You saw horses leaving here.'"  

Odds and ends

Lebanon County wants a piece of the gambling pie, even though no casino is techincally located within the county limits ... Illinois gets a new casino ... Isle of Capri releases its quarterlies (losses of $13.5 million and a suspension of some capital projects) ... Atlantic City should steel itself for a rough December ... Mountaineer Casino Racetrack & Resort announced is laying off 93 workers, 4 percent of its work force. "The cuts affect 'nonessential personnel' like maintenance workers and carpenters," says the AP.

Finally, Vegas casino workers aren't happy with new IRS regulations on tipping and tax reporting requirements:

"The Culinary Union, representing roughly 60,000 service workers, says tips are down 50 percent as visitors spend less time and money in Las Vegas, making workers unhappy with IRS withholding requirements. The IRS has agreed with casinos to reduce the amount casino workers must declare as tip income by 20 percent. Union officials say many workers intend to drop out of the voluntary program to withhold taxes from tips, choosing to risk the possibility of an audit."