Senate bill could keep Dover Downs competitive, without layoffs

Delaware casino table games bring in money and 29 percent of it goes to the state, the highest table games tax rate in the country.

At Dover Downs Hotel and Casino, when you factor in payroll and marketing costs, CEO and President, Ed Sutor, says it means zero profit.

“Since we started table game operations several years ago, we’ve never made any money,” says Sutor. “What we need is a new structure.”

That’s where Senate Bill 30 comes in. It would reduce that tax rate to 15 percent

For Dover Downs, this could potentially prevent layoffs. Just last week, the company announced a loss of $352,000 in their first quarter. To reduce spending, they are cutting table games during their “graveyard” shift, which could put 24 employees out of jobs.

According to Sutor, the latest loss comes after five years without raises, a drop in full-time hire and 34 previous layoffs, all while 35 out-of-state casinos are within driving distance.

“Everytime we turn around our competition is opening more places and the pies not getting any bigger it’s getting sliced up thinner and thinner,” says Sutor. “That’s put us at a significant disadvantage.”

Representative Tim Dukes, who helped draft Senate Bill 30, which is currently stuck in committee. He says the state first needs to figure out a $70 million budget shortfall.

“Hopefully we can do a little bit of budget cutting and when we can do that those things will help settle out this issue,” he says.

In the meantime, casinos cutting back will hurt the state as well, because if there are no table games, there is no tax money from them.

And without tax relief, Sutor says, they will have to lay-off more employees.

“Chances are they’ll lose more than what we will,” he says. “We’re all tied into this together.”