Slots at PHL – Jackpot or Flop?
Killing time at the airport is one of those delightful, inevitable life activities – it’s up there with the line for Dumbo at the Magic Kingdom or the prospect of a really vigorous dental cleaning. It’s not going to completely ruin your day, but you may feel your soul shrivel up just a little bit. I mean, what are you going to do: munch a sad and dried-out Cinnabon? Mainline Starbucks until passersby are side-eying your uncontrollable twitching? Reread that paperback bestseller you picked up for your trip but didn’t especially enjoy?
Is this what the airport needs? Photo: Creative Commons.
If you ask Jim Kenney, the answer is slot machines. Banks of gleaming, blinky, singsong-y slots, all waiting to entice ticketed passengers with their pull-handles of gambling goodness. The councilman says that proceeds from the proposed airport slots could be used to fund education, using numbers from Las Vegas’ airport slots as the basis.
It’s worth pointing out that, if approved, slots at the airport would not count towards the city’s two authorized casino licenses, the second of which is currently being competitively bid for by developers. Folks who want to get their spin on right now have to truck it down to SugarHouse Philly. As proposed, the PHL machines wouldn’t be accessible by the public – only ticketed passengers who had already passed security screening would be able to play.
Airport slots are notoriously “tight,” meaning that they are stingy with the payouts. Not surprising, when you consider airport psychology – many folks are just passing through, and have neither the time nor inclination to pay enough to realize they’re being fleeced. When airports install slots in their airsides, they know they have a bored and captive audience. It’s a quick way to lose your money. With all that said, it can be a fun way to lose your money.
Kenney’s proposal will be debated in the near future by the City Council. If they vote to pass the measure, it will appear before the state legislature.
