In Pennsylvania these days, some old department stores don’t fade away. They just trade their sportswear for slot machines.
At Westmoreland Mall, for instance, a former Bon-Ton store is now home to Live! Casino Pittsburgh, an 80,000-square-foot gambling venue featuring 750 slot machines and 40 table games that opened in late 2020.
But it’s not the only old department store to wager on gambling as a form of reincarnation. In fact, four of the five Category 4 mini-casinos licensed in Pennsylvania operate out of former big box stores.
The latest is the new $35 million Centre County casino to be managed by Bally’s. It will be located in a 94,000-square-foot former Macy’s store in the Nittany Mall in College Township. The state gaming control board awarded the license for the venue last month.
In addition, Hollywood Casino in York County operates out of an old Sears department store in the Galleria Mall. And the Parx Casino in Shippensburg found a home in a former Lowe’s home improvement store in Shippen Towne Center.
So what’s drawing mini casinos to old big box stores like shoppers to a Presidents’ Day sale?
It’s a matter of cash and convenience, according to one gambling industry expert.
Joseph Weinert, executive vice president of Horsham, Pa.-based Spectrum Gaming Group, said malls offer several advantages — a built-in customer base, parking, and, in the case of vacant department stores, a building just about the right size for the smaller mini-casinos.
“These are convenience casinos designed to attract a very localized market and an existing mall has a ready-made customer base,” he said.
Not only are casino owners able to avoid massive capital expenditures by locating in malls, the shopping venues themselves can profit from having a gambling facility among their tenant mix.
“The malls across America in general are having a tougher time. Casinos can bring foot traffic and help restore some of the volume to retail shops, restaurants, and other establishments within the mall,” Mr. Weinert said.
Likewise, the casinos can prosper from the arrangement.
“If someone is making a clothing purchase, they may decide to spend five minutes to an hour playing slots,” he noted.
The arrangement has worked well for Live! Casino Pittsburgh in Hempfield Township, Westmoreland County, general manager Sean Sullivan said.
“It’s that age-old symbiotic relationship where we’re providing traffic for the mall and the mall is providing traffic for us,” he said. “What’s good for them is good for us.”
Live! Casino Pittsburgh operates on two levels. The first is the gambling floor open to those 21 years old or older, while the second consists of restaurants and a new events center that is available to anyone.
Shoppers or visitors can access the casino from inside the mall or its main entrance from outside. The casino itself benefits from the surface parking surrounding it as well as a three-story garage that it shares with Macy’s.
At first, Mr. Sullivan said he was a little worried about the idea of a casino being located in a former Bon-Ton. But he has since wholeheartedly embraced the concept.
“This is a hot traffic area. There’s a ton of people already coming to the mall. There are good hotels nearby. There are good restaurants,” he said. “It all comes together. It’s the center of Westmoreland, to be honest with you.”
And it’s not only the mall itself that draws traffic but stores like Dick’s Sporting Goods that are located next to it, he pointed out.
As Mr. Sullivan explained it, some of the slowest times for casinos are between Thanksgiving and Christmas, But being located in a mall has proven to be a gift in that regard.
“Typically casinos have a hard time competing with Santa Claus,” he said. “A mall gives you a more seasonal advantage where you don’t have the slow period you usually see between Thanksgiving and Christmas.”
These days, Mr. Sullivan has no qualms about operating a casino in the mall. As a matter of fact, asked to identify the drawbacks of being located there, he couldn’t come up with even one.
“I can’t think of one real negative,” he said.
Mr. Sullivan added that mall traffic was up 5% last year over 2021 and up 15% over 2019.
The casino, meanwhile, saw its total revenues jump nearly 10.3% to $111.9 million last year, an indication that the arrangement seems to be bearing fruit. It currently employs 540 people.
In all, the Cordish Companies invested $150 million in the venue, including the $40 million bid to win the rights to it.
“Business has been robust, no doubt about it, the first two years. And that’s despite COVID,” Mr. Sullivan said. “We’ve been busy.”
A mall spokeswoman could not be reached for comment.
According to Mr. Sullivan, the casino leases its space, making it a tenant just like Macy’s and J.C. Penney. It also coordinates with the mall on any outdoor events it would like to hold, such as a rodeo last summer that drew big crowds.
Mr. Sullivan isn’t the only one bullish about operating in a shopping complex. Penn National Gaming, the owner of the Hollywood Casino in York County, is another.
“We explored numerous other potential opportunities within York County for our Category 4 license, but the mall’s convenient location, existing infrastructure and ample parking, as well as the support of Springettsbury Township officials and the local business community, helped cement our decision to locate Hollywood Casino there,” spokesman Jeff Morris said in a statement.
Penn National also owns the only mini casino in the state not to be located in a big box store — Hollywood Casino in Morgantown, Pa. For that one, it decided to build from the ground up on a 36-acre vacant lot near the turnpike.
Mark Belko: mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.
First Published: February 20, 2023, 11:00 a.m.
Updated: February 20, 2023, 2:08 p.m.
