Parx opens room for high rollers

High-net-worth individuals - parlance in the gambling industry for high rollers - have a new place to play at Parx.

A private, $3 million, high-limit room with 4,700 additional square feet of table games and an exclusive lounge debuted this week. It's part of the Bensalem casino's multiphase expansion and coincides with new table-games regulations.

Here's how Bob Green, chairman of the owner-operator of Parx, described the room:

"All the best fabrics, chandeliers, wall treatment - it's all of a very high quality," he said Friday. "It's a self-contained room with hors d'oeuvres and beverages, and for people who want to bet high stakes and do so in privacy with all the excellent service arrangements."

That does not include the 14 new roulette, blackjack, craps, and baccarat tables inside.

While the high-limit room had a low-key opening this week, it will have a formal opening later in the month.

Green said the new room coincides with regulations in the table-games bill that became law in January 2010. Among other things, the new law allows players greater access to a line of credit and lets a casino match a player's original wager, known as match play.

"It enables high-stakes players to get credit without bringing a significant amount of cash to the casino," he said.

The new room offers another peek into the fierce regional competition for gambling dollars, especially with Atlantic City in its peak summer season.

While Parx ranked first in gross slots revenue among 10 casinos in the state last month, generating $32.2 million, that figure was down nearly 13.4 percent from $37.1 million in May 2010. It was one of seven Pennsylvania casinos to report a year-over-year revenue decline. SugarHouse on the Philadelphia waterfront opened Sept. 23.

It's the clearest indicator yet that cannibalization and market saturation may be setting in - and that the casinos are pulling out all the stops to attract business. Sands Resort Casino in Bethlehem opened a 300-room hotel over Memorial Day weekend. In August, Rivers in Pittsburgh opens a new ballroom. A casino at the Valley Forge Convention Center opens next year.

Parx, located on a busy thoroughfare, announced earlier this year that it was adding 53 table games by the end of June. The tables are being distributed among the new high-limit room, the Parx East building, and in the main casino.