Maryland’s Casino Market About to Get More Competitive

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Tuesday, October 11th, 2016 | Written by Lucy Brown

Maryland Live is the biggest gambling venue in the Free State, with the casino boasting 3,907 slot machines and 206 table games. Needless to say, the Hanover property brings in the most revenue of all the state’s five gaming facilities, raking in $53.9 million in September alone, or more than half of the entire $97.1 million generated by Maryland’s casino industry during the time period.

Clearly, Maryland Live has been able to maintain a huge footprint in the Maryland gaming market since it opened over 4 years ago. In fact, the state’s other competitors, which includes the Horseshoe, the Casino at Ocean Downs, Rocky Gap Casino Resort and Hollywood Casino Perryville, seem minuscule in comparison. But there may be some stiffer competition on its way with a new, flashy casino resort set to open on December 8th. Determined to hold onto its number one position, though, Maryland Live is already making some major changes in order to stay competitive.

The New Kid on the Block

The new casino in question is the MGM Resort, which will be opening at the National Harbor in Baltimore next month. MGM Resorts invested $1.4 billion in the project, creating a property that is intended to bring the Las Vegas experience to the Chesapeake Bay region. Amongst the resort’s main attractions is a 23-story hotel tower complete with 308 guest room, plus a luxury day spa, restaurants that are home to celebrity chefs Jose Andres and the Voltaggio brothers, and a 3,000-seat events venue. Furthermore, when it opens, MGM National Harbor will become the second biggest casino in the state with 3,600 slot machines and 140 gaming tables.

Ideal Tourist Location

There is 35 miles separating Maryland Live from MGM National Harbor, with the latter’s location ideal for out-of-state tourists who are more likely to want to stay there than in Hanover, Anne Arundel County, where Maryland Live is located. Commenting on situation, Harford Community College professor, James Karmel, said:

“There’s definitely a significant number of Maryland Live players who are coming from the Washington, D.C., area, the Maryland suburbs, and Northern Virginia who will probably find it more convenient to go play at National Harbor when it opens. It is very hard to quantify that. It might be 10%, it might be 20%. I’ll be surprised if it’s much higher.”

Staying Competitive

Maryland Live will still have size at its advantage after the MGM Resort opens, but until recently it was still lacking in one important area, namely overnight accommodations. It’s a complaint that the casino has gotten ever since it opened on June 6, 2012, but its owner The Cordish Companies has since been motivated to do something about it.

Consequently, the casino recently announced that it had purchased a property located about 1 mile from the casino that it has renamed “LIVE! LOFTS. The plan is to renovate the property into a first-rate 310 bedroom Las Vegas-style boutique hotel, with the development expected to cost $200 million, and be completed between now and Q2 or Q3 of 2017. Once it is complete, the resort will be able to provide accommodation and a convenient place for overnight stays onsite, just like the MGM Resort.

A new boutique hotel isn’t the only project in the works for Maryland Live, though, as plans are also afoot to build a brand new conference center, as well as a day spa, restaurants, and cafe. Will it be enough to keep them in the number one spot? We’ll have to wait and see, but in the meantime commenting on its prospects going forward, Maryland Live president Rob Norton, stated:

“In business, if you don’t adjust, you wither away. We have no intention of going anywhere. Will our customers go down there and try the new casino? I absolutely expect them to go down and try it. I equally expect that they’ll be back for the great service that we give them.”

Casinos Market Up 11% in September

The last time Maryland’s casino market saw a downturn in year-on-year revenues was back in November 2015 when it contracted slightly by 0.47%. Business has continued its upward trajectory ever since, and in September Maryland’s casinos generated $97.1 million in revenue, up 11% versus the $87.5 million reported for the same month in 2015. Impressively, all the casinos reported year-on-year growth last month, lead by Horseshoe Casino Baltimore (+21.6%), and then Rocky Gap (+14.9%), Maryland Live (8.8%), Hollywood Casino Perryville (+4.6%), and finally Ocean Downs (+2.9%).