Economic Impact of Rivers Casino at Pittsburgh Pennsylvanian (Case Study Sample)

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Economic Impact of Rivers Casino at Pittsburgh Pennsylvanian
A casino is a building or a large room where people usually go for gambling activities and they are usually combined with hotels and restaurants. This type of gambling can take several forms such as machine gaming, table gaming, Indian gaming among others. The gaming industry has experienced dramatic growth due to many states legalizing casinos in order to deal with high rates of unemployment, budget deficits and also raise revenue for governments. An example of such a casino is The Rivers Casino located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. This article shall focus on this casino mainly on accounting control, financial performance, economic impact and the gaming benefits it has on Pennsylvanians.
History of Rivers Casino
The Pennsylvania Horse Race Development and Gaming Act (Act 71) became made into law in the year 2004 allowing issuing of casino licenses in the state. However, only one license was reserved for the city of Pittsburgh and this resulted in four gaming organizations namely North Shore Gaming, LP, Square Gaming, LP, Isle of Capri Casinos, Inc, and PITG Gaming, LLC to come up with proposals in order to win that license. Some of these proposals were questioned. The PITG Gaming was however awarded the license in December 2006 and this made the other contestants to file lawsuits against it but they did not succeed. Construction began in 2007 but there were more challenges such as in 2008 when the company evaded a loan and failed to pay the workers which halted the construction. However, these challenges did not delay the opening of the casino which was scheduled in August 2009.
Rivers Casino General Information
The rivers casino is located in Allegheny County Pittsburgh along the Ohio River and is owned by Holdings Acquisition Company which is a joint venture of High Pittt Gaming and Walton Street Capital LLC. Its net worth is about $199.5 million. The casino also has four bars and restaurants each, a court room and a night club. It offers a total of over 100 games and a rewards club based on level of play. There are also plans to add a ballroom in the casino.
Gaming Benefits for Pennsylvanians
The legalization of casino gaming produced benefits to the residents through creation of more jobs thus improving the living standards and reducing the property tax to owners, also called tax relief. In addition, a bigger percentage of revenue generated from the casino is used in funding of school property tax reduction and supplement the Rent Rebate program for the poor and those living with disabilities. Despite the casinos raising the quality of living standards for citizens there are also negative effects to them and the main one being addiction. It is evident that gambling is addictive and if a person goes broke and still wants to gamble he will look for more money to gamble even if means stealing.
Economic Impact of Rivers Casino
During the past several years many states have legalized casino gaming in a bid to attain economic independence. The Rivers Casino has shown a positive economic impact, one being creation of jobs, it offers a variety of jobs to over 16000 people and thus, these people are able to cater for their needs and this reduces the burden by the government to create jobs. There will be also promotion of tourism in Pennsylvania because professional gamblers travel while trying out different places thus there will be the need for accommodation and this will contribute to hotel development. The other important impact is seen through payment of taxes. This has helped the local government to reduce budget deficit and also implementing tax relief on property owners.
Casino Accounting Control
Management of finances of a casino is a challenging task and requires a high level of skills because the assets of a casino are more liquid. The operation of a casino involves money thus an efficient accounting method helps to provide an overview of the casino‘s financial state. It is the duty of the accountants to analyse profits and operation costs in determining the profitability of the casino. An effective means to manage the finances is through proper budgeting and minimising costs of operation as much as possible. This will help in proper profit management.
Security and Surveillance
The security and surveillance helps to protect the casino and customers from theft because it usually involves a lot of money so the risk is high. This is why The Rivers Casino has heavily inve...