When your business takes in $27.6 million in one month, it’s hard to imagine that in negative terms.

But that’s the story coming from Harrah’s Chester Casino & Racetrack.

Harrah’s is on a losing streak.

They took in $27.6 million from gamblers in April. That’s down 2.4 percent from the same month last year. It’s the second straight month the take has been down at Harrah’s, continuing a trend that first popped up last summer.

And once again, Harrah’s was the only one of the seven operating slots parlors now up and running in Pennsylvania where the take is down. For example, at Philly Park, gaming was up almost 10 percent. Some of the smaller operations, such as those at Pocono Downs and Penn National, were way up, more than 40 percent.

Still, Harrah’s weighs in as the second largest venue in the state, behind only Philly Park, which took in $31 million in April.

No one is saying why Harrah’s is down. Certainly not the folks at the Chester site, who are notoriously tight-lipped about the numbers there.

Maybe it’s the economy. But if that was the case, wouldn’t it hold true for other slots parlors as well? Is the economy here worse than other areas of the state? Is Harrah’s somehow more vulnerable to competition than other locations?

One thing is sure. Harrah’s soon will be facing more competition, not less. A slots parlor in Bethlehem is ready to open its doors.

And even more threatening is the situation in Philly, where two new sites are going to go on line eventually. Yesterday Sugarhouse got an extension on its license for their site on the Delaware River in Fishtown. They’re actually hoping to have a temporary slots operation running there by early next year. The folks at Foxwoods want to have a facility in the old Strawbridge’s building at Eighth and Market online by Christmas.

Jingle all the way? Maybe not for Harrah’s.