Covering Gaming as Big Business

Just as the gambling industry continues to evolve to attract a broader clientele, so too, does its coverage to attract a larger audience. Several newspapers, including my employer, The Philadelphia Inquirer, are re-examining, and in many cases, restructuring industry coverage.

Over the past year, my own beat has evolved to extend beyond covering Atlantic City casinos, to now include Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia region. The Pennsylvania General Assembly approved gambling legislation last summer to allow up to 61,000 slot machines in 14 venues throughout the state. As a result, coverage has been tailored to highlight its potential impact on Atlantic City. In anticipation of the new competition, I have chronicled how Atlantic City is transforming itself into a full destination resort with high-end shopping, entertainment, dining and, yes, gambling to inoculate itself from the advent of slot parlors in Pennsylvania.

My advice to anyone covering this beat is to be as well-read and well-sourced as possible. Regularly read publications, such as Global Gaming Business, a weekly that offers a national and international overview of gambling developments; Casino Connection, a monthly that focuses on casino employees in Atlantic City ; and the Wall Street Journal, which gives the latest in gambling news.

At the Inquirer, we've created a "Slots Team" -- a group of reporters assigned specifically to track and document the advent of gambling in Pennsylvania and its impact on the region. We have a reporter based in Harrisburg to track the legislature's changes to the new gambling law and the formation of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. A reporter based in Philadelphia is tracking the impact of the city's two slot parlors on its social, cultural and economic fabric. Another reporter based in the Philadelphia suburbs follows the efforts of racetracks there as designated slots venues.

Atlantic City is a national model, having had gaming for 26 years. Pennsylvania is turning to the Garden State for advice on everything from acquiring the latest in slots technology to setting up regulations and standards. The job here is to document this cross-pollination, and keep readers abreast of how major gambling companies in Atlantic City are trying to establish a presence in Pennsylvania to gain new market share, as well as protect their investment in Atlantic City.

The mandate from my business editor is to "regionalize" our gaming coverage, and to tie in what is happening in Atlantic City with the rest of the region and nation. I visited Las Vegas recently for a Sunday business section front story on how Atlantic City is becoming "Vegas East," and is adopting several business principles that have worked in Las Vegas, which underwent its own similar transformation.

In another Sunday business story, I showed how Indian casinos in California are impacting Nevada gambling houses, and how Pennsylvania slots may have the same effect on Atlantic City, given their proximity. I traveled to Sacramento, Calif., and brought readers inside the Thunder Valley Casino -- the state's largest Indian casino and slot parlor -- noting how Philadelphia may have something very similar in the near future. Such enterprise work takes initiative, and offers foresight into how changing market dynamics in one part of the country may foreshadow what can happen in another region.

Reflective of gambling's growing importance as a multibillion-dollar industry tracked by Wall Street, other major newspapers such as the Wall Street Journal and The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J. have assigned a reporter solely to follow gaming. Staying ahead of other media competition requires a lot of reading to keep up with recent trends in the industry.

For sources, I rely on Wall Street gaming analysts when doing my monthly revenue write-ups of Atlantic City casinos, and for commentary on general trends that may affect casino stock. For CEO profiles, read 10-Q and 10-K financial statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission voraciously for an overview of how their respective companies are performing. I was able to break the story on Donald Trump's filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last summer by combing through such documents. The exhaustive research and diligence paid off -- the Inquirer had the exclusive on Trump's bankruptcy that morning, even beating the Wall Street Journal.

Knowing the states' various gambling laws offers another advantage. For this area, it means tracking New Jersey and Pennsylvania's ever-changing laws in two capital cities, Harrisburg and Trenton. Again, the key is to provide readers the big picture and give stories context -- and show that gaming developments in two states are less isolated instances, and more part of the gaming industry's national impact and rapid spread.

Recent gaming articles by Parmley:

Union finds subcontracting by casinos is hard to stomach

Gamble in Calif. is paying off

Las Vegas: Wish we were you

A gambling man bets on Borgata's AC

Techno-personal gaming

Copyright © 2008 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism