Seneca Allegany Resort & Casino in Salamanca, N.Y., is the place to go for gambling –– but the popular facility’s performance has been shrouded in secrecy.
But a report consultant CBRE Hotels reveals that not everything had been going well at the casino.
“With no later financial or performance information available, we cannot be any more specific about the post-fiscal 2009 results for Seneca Allegany,” the consultant said in a study. “However, conversations with industry executives who formerly worked with SGA indicated that the performance of Seneca Allegany was and continues to be negatively impacted by the introduction of table games to the casinos/racinos in Pennsylvania in 2010 and at Tioga Downs (in New York’s Tioga County east of Elmira) in late 2016 and by the openings of the casinos and racinos in Ohio beginning in 2012.”
Gross slot revenues at Seneca Allegany reached a high point at just over $145 million in fiscal 2007, which the consultant says is higher than many of the smaller racino operations in New York and generally comparable to the slot revenues reported by the Presque Isle racino in Erie.
“However, slot revenues at Seneca Allegany fell off in fiscal 2008 and more materially in fiscal 2009 as the economy softened and the level of competition increased in the region,” the consultant stated.
Table game revenues at Seneca Allegany increased through fiscal 2008, then somewhat declined in fiscal 2009, both in the neighborhood of $26 million, according to the study.
“Total gaming revenues at Seneca Allegany were estimated to peak at just below $170 million, which is a level that could be considered acceptable, but not impressive nor encouraging, for a facility with some 2,000 slot machines, 40 table games and a hotel,” the consultant stated.
For the fiscal year 2009, Seneca Allegany saw that some 67 percent of the patrons were from outside New York state. During that same fiscal year, the hotel at Seneca Allegany experienced an occupancy of 97 percent, but 79 percent of those occupied rooms were complimentary.
As of Sept. 30, 2009, the overall investment in Seneca Allegany totalled about $346 million with a $53-million expansion to the hotel in process, the study pointed out.
“Thus, the total cost of Seneca Allegany, we assume with no provision for the cost/value of the reservation land, was around $400 million,” the study states.
In 2006, the Seneca Allegany had been expanded to 2,265 slot machines and 41 table games, and over the intervening years, a parking garage, an event center and a 413-room hotel were added. Now that casino has an estimated 1,800 slot machines and 33 table games.
From the time Seneca Allegany opened through the fiscal year that ended September 30, 2009, the Seneca Gaming Authority submitted reports to the Securities & Exchange Commission.
“Shortly thereafter, whether due to litigation wherein the SGA claims (New York state) violated the terms of its exclusivity agreement or to bond-financing requirements, the SGA ceased submitting reports to the SEC and, thus, ‘went dark’ in terms of publishing performance data, consistent with the behavior of most tribal gaming operations,” the consultant stated. “Thus, some reliable data is available for total SGA operations and some of its specific properties, though couched in typical non-property-specific 10-K/Annual Report language.”
