Casino Environment
US commercial casinos generated at least $30 billion a year between 2005 and 20081. During that time, they built new facilities or expanded their existing ones. Due to the recent economic downturn, US commercial casinos have ceased construction and are now focusing on reducing the costs of existing facilities.
Section 179 (D) tax provisions
Casino operators increasingly use EPAct IRC Section 179(D), commercial building energy-efficiency tax provisions. These have now been extended until 2013. EPAct offers tax deductions for energy savings in lighting, HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), and the building envelope. The building envelope is made up of the foundation, the walls, the roof, the windows and the doors. These all control energy flow between the inside and outside of the structure.
Casino Properties
Hotel resorts are often included in commercial casinos and offer attractive services to their corporate customers. The EPAct is a good fit for casinos because they have large gaming areas, hotel rooms, conference halls and parking garages. These features are typically significant in size and can result in a benefit of up to 60 cents a square foot. Most American casinos have an average height of over 100,000 square feet. Some smaller commercial casinos measure about 50,000 sq. ft. MGM Grand is one of the biggest on the Las Vegas Strip. It’s almost 2,000,000 square feet. The most popular category of a building under Section 179 is hotels. See “Hotels and Motels: Most Favoured Tax Properties Under the Energy Policy Act”
While it is true that commercial casinos are located in Nevada and New Jersey, there are 12 other states with commercial casinos. Although the two largest states in terms of commercial casino revenue are Nevada and New Jersey, there are 12 other states which have commercial casinos. These include Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, South Dakota, Illinois, and Indiana. The American Gaming Association has made some commitments regarding energy reduction. Boyd Gaming Corporation, Harra’s Entertainment, Inc., and MGM Mirage are among the casinos that have reported. The projects include cogeneration and energy recovery ventilation, more energy-efficient HVAC units, replacement of incandescent lighting with energy-efficient lighting, windows with energy-efficient daylighting systems, and solar thermal storage, among other initiatives.
Casinos and hotels are the best-suited property categories for tax incentives because of the underlying rules qualifying them for Section 179D Lighting Tax Deduction. This rule requires a minimum of 25% watts per square foot compared to the 2001 ASHRAE building energy code. A 40% watts per equitable foot reduction is necessary for the entire tax deduction compared with the ASHRAE standard 2001. The ASHRAE 2004 hotel/motel building standard code calls for a 40% wattage decrease. This means any lighting installations in hotels or motels that meet this building code will qualify automatically for maximum EPAct deduction.
Occupancy rooms
Section 179D requires compliance with bi-level switch requirements for most building categories. Comparisons are always made using wired lighting rather than plug-in lighting. The casino hotel occupancy rooms are a significant advantage because they use plug-in lights. Also, since these rooms serve as motel and hotel spaces, the requirement to switch between tax levels is not applicable. The occupant room is usually the most significant space in a hotel-casino. Casinos can use energy-efficient lighting for large EPAct deductions.
Back the house spaces
The T-12 fluorescent light illuminated large kitchens, laundry rooms, and storage areas (“back of house”). The lighting in these spaces is inefficient and will no longer be manufactured in the United States as of July 1, 20104. Casinos should now replace the lighting fixtures to reduce energy costs and avoid lamp replacement. EPAct’s lighting tax incentive is a great way to take advantage of these product changes BitStarz: Bitcoin Casino – Multi-award Winning Crypto Casino.
Restaurants, banquet rooms and ballrooms
These casinos used to use designer lighting, which is inefficient energy and expensive to replace and maintain. It is costly to rent or buy mobile hydraulic platforms to replace bulbs and lamps on high ceilings. The new lighting products are being returned by light-emitting diode products (LEDs) that use less energy, have a longer life, and consume a fraction as much. Combining considerable energy savings, reduced operating costs, rebates from utilities, and EPAct tax benefits can improve the return on investment of these expensive lighting upgrades.
Parking Garages
Upgrades to energy-efficient fixtures can result in substantial tax savings and energy cost reductions for many casinos with large adjacent parking garages. The IRS stated in Notice 2008-40 dated March 7, 2008, that parking garages were a class of property entitled to EPAct tax deductions. Parking garages are also exempt from the requirement of switching tax levels. See the article by September 2008 International Parking Institute on parking garages and EPAct tax deductions.
Gaming Floors and Slot Machines
Slot machines are one of the largest energy consumers on hotel gaming floors. Even though these machines were among the first to adopt fluorescent lighting, they still require 3 bulb changes per year due to their 24/7 operation. Due to high maintenance costs, casino owners have switched to LED technology for their slot machines. LEDs are more expensive up front, but they offer higher energy efficiency and a longer lifespan, which allows for significant labour and maintenance savings.
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