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STAYING IN THE GAME
Customers’ loyalty to Crown Wholesale helps keep bingo supplier’s numbers up
By GRACE WYLER
youngstown
Long before eBay and Craigslist, Rudy Sferra, founder of Youngstown’s Crown Wholesale, would frequent small hardware stores, flea markets and local bars, selling everything from biker gear and hand tools to toys and household items.
“We used to sell anything,” said Rudy Sferra’s son, Joe Sferra, who now owns the wholesaler. “If someone wanted to buy it, we would sell it.”
So when a bar asked Rudy Sferra if he could supply bingo paper, he thought “Why not?”
“That started everything,” Joe Sferra said.
With the growth of dollar-store chains and budget retailers such as Walmart, Crown Wholesale has been edged out of the market for other goods. But the business, which began in the Sferras’ Campbell home in 1964, has grown into one of the region’s largest charitable gaming suppliers.
The business, now located in a 17,000-square foot warehouse on the corner of South and Williamson avenues, carries a full range of bingo supplies, including bingo cards, pull tabs and a rainbow of bingo daubers.
“We keep all of the supplies necessary for a charitable gaming event,” Sferra said.
The company is one of the five largest suppliers in Ohio, pulling in about $1 million in annual sales, he said.
Crown customers include churches, veterans groups and other nonprofit organizations across Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties in Ohio, and Mercer, Lawrence, Beaver and Butler counties in Pennsylvania.
Charitable gaming — and bingo in particular — has long been a source of funding for these nonprofit organizations.
Crown owes a lot of its success to a number of loyal clients, many of whom have been supporters of the wholesaler for more than 20 years, Sferra said.
“I have been working here for my family since I was 10,” Sferra said. “I have known some of the customers since then, so there is a good sense of continuity.”
But while the gaming industry was once considered recession-proof, many bingo suppliers have suffered in the most recent economic downturn.
The difficulties can be attributed, in part, to an overall decline in bingo participation.
“One of the battles we have is how we can attract younger players,” Sferra said. “We need to keep the industry moving.”
Bingo businesses also face stiff competition from commercial gaming, Sferra said.
Charitable gaming has suffered from the proximity of casinos such as Mountaineer Race Track & Gaming Resort in Chester, W.Va., and Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh.
Locally, there are still a number of thriving bingo games that have kept Crown on its feet, Sferra said.
“The west side of Youngstown is abundant with charitable games,” Sferra said.
He added that New Castle and Sharon, Pa., also have a number of popular games.
Bingo businesses in Ohio stand to benefit from a new gambling law that will allow bingo halls to increase total payouts from $3,500 to $6,000 per session, Sferra said.
Some have argued that the new law, which takes effect in September, will hurt small bingo businesses unable to afford the higher payout.
But Sferra said the new law provides options for any charitable gaming business to offer different kinds of games, as well as progressive jackpots. He added that increased payouts also will draw more customers, pointing out that charitable gaming has better withstood economic pressure and competition in Pennsylvania, which allows higher bingo jackpots.
Bingo halls will be able to lure in players with the prospect of winning big in an relaxed and intimate environment, he said.
“There is a social, interactive atmosphere in bingo,” Sferra said. “And all of the proceeds that it generates go to charitable causes.”