Maryland’s Latest Casino Spurs State Revenues to Record Heights

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Thursday, January 12th, 2017 | Written by Adam Brown

On December 8th, Maryland’s newest casino opened to great fanfare, and unlike the state’s five other established casinos, the $1.4 billion MGM National Harbor is an integrated casino resort which offers a range of entertainments outside of its gambling options. Such was the popularity of the venue on its opening night that the capacity crowd soon compelled management to advise those people without an advanced booking to revisit the casino at a later date.

This week, the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency subsequently released its latest financial results for December, and the results were spectacular with revenues hitting $133.5 million, up by 28% compared to the same month last year. Furthermore, the figure represents a new all-time record for the Free State, demolishing the previous record set in May 2016 of $104.3 million.

Maryland Live Feels the Heat

The state’s largest casino has traditionally been Maryland Live, which in the past has accounted for more than 50% of Maryland’s monthly gambling revenues. In December, the venue subsequently generated $48 million from its 3,906 slot machines and 209 table games, a figure 11.4% lower than the same month in 2015.

The drop in revenues was not all together unexpected, though, as Maryland Live also experienced a similar contraction in its revenues after the Horseshoe Casino Baltimore opened its doors in 2014, and commenting on its latest results, Alan Woinski from Gaming USA Corp, explained:

“The results were pretty much what I expected — they grew the market by about 30 percent. The decline at Maryland Live was pretty much what it was when Horseshoe opened, below 15 percent. My guess is eventually both are going to find their niche. MGM will be more the destination resort.”

MGM Provides a Huge Boost

While MGM National Harbor currently lags behind Maryland Live in terms of its 3,237 slot machines and 165 table games, the integrated casino resort was only open for 23 days in December, but its revenues still came in at a whopping $41.9 million. Needless to say, analyst will be awaiting next month’s full results in anticipation, and its not too much of a stretch to anticipate the venue coming to dominate the state’s casino market.

In the meantime, Maryland Live has been putting on a brave face, and said that the two venues separated by just 29 miles should ultimately appeal to different audiences. Commenting upon the situation, Rob Norton, President of Cordish Global Gaming Group, which owns Maryland Live, stated:

“We’re excited to still be the number one revenue casino in the state of Maryland. We’re focused on the locals, the local community and local players and we’re not focused on tourists. I think everyone is curious about MGM and I think the vast majority of our customers will go down as curiosity, but they’ll come back because of who we are. We know them by name, we know them as people.”

The Times are Changing

Currently, Maryland Live holds the state’s monthly revenue record of $61.8 million set in March 2014, but that was before the Horseshoe was opened for business. Whether MGM National Harbor will manage to surpass that figure now that there are six casinos in Maryland remains to be seen.

Rest of Market

In December, three of the state’s four other casinos reported year-on-year growth, led by the Horseshoe Casino Baltimore whose 2,202 slots and 179 table games generated revenues of $29.7 million, up by 9.1% versus the same month in 2015. The news came as a huge surprise for Maryland Lottery and Gaming Director Gordon Medenica, who said that for Horseshoe to enjoy a positive month after MGM’s opening was a huge bonus.

Elsewhere, the Casino at Ocean Downs reported a 6.1% increase in revenues from its 800 slots to $4.1 million; and the Rocky Gap Casino Resort, too, posted a slight 1.1% revenue improvement to $3.5 million from its 662 slot machines and 17 table games . Bucking the trend, however, was the Hollywood Casino Perryville which generated $6.09 million from its 850 slots and 20 table games, down by 3.9% from last December.

Looking ahead, Gordon Medenica said that he was tremendously optimistic concerning the future direction of the state’s casino industry, especially in light of the immediate success of MGM National Harbor. He also expressed his belief that the “outstanding facility in an ideal location” would help fuel continued revenue growth that could subsequently be used to support vital state programs.