Atlantic City
rode the wave one more month, as gaming revenue increased 19.1 percent to $287.3 million. Casino win was up 11.0 percent to $218.3 million, slot win was up 12.5 percent to $157.0 million, and table games were up 7.3 percent to $61.3 million. Casino sports betting was up 23 percent to $4.7 million, the two racetracks added another $12.2 million in sports revenue, and igaming recorded $52.0 million in revenue in February, up 63 percent.
By casino: Borgata reported $66.4 million, up 22 percent. Golden Nugget was in second, up 33 percent to $35.4 million, due to GN igaming being up 84 percent to $19.4 million; without igaming, Golden Nugget would have had only $16.1 million, putting it eighth on the casino revenue list. Resorts and Resorts Digital combined for $30.9 million, up 23 percent, with Resorts Digital accounting for $16.4 million of the total. Tropicana’s win was $30.8 million, up 9 percent. Hard Rock had a win of $26.9 million, Harrah’s $26.4 million, Caesars plus Caesars Interactive $25.3 million, and Ocean Resorts $21.3 million. Bally’s was ninth, at $12.0 million, down 6.5 percent from 2019.
Maryland’s
six casinos reported a 10.6 percent increase to $151.2 million in February. The market leader is MGM National Harbor; it reported $61.1 million in win, an increase of 13.3 percent. Live! Casino & Hotel reported $54.7 million, an increase of 18.9%. Horseshoe Casino Baltimore was down again, in February, dropping 13.3 percent to $17.9 million. Hollywood Casino Perryville had a win of $6.6 million, up 10.3 percent; Ocean Downs Casino won $5.9 million, up 4.3 percent; and Rocky Gap Casino Resort had a win of $48 million, up 11.4 percent from February 2019.
Massachusetts
was buoyed by the new Encore Boston Harbor; the state had $86 million in win, up from $34 million last year. Encore reported $52.5 million, $27.8 million from table games and $24.6 million from slots. MGM Springfield was up slightly to $21.8 million, with $5.4 million from tables and $16.3 million from slots. Slots-only Plainridge Park was down 6.4 percent to $11.7 million.
Connecticut
casinos seemed to have adjusted to Encore and MGM, having seen several months of revenue increases. Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun were up 4.5 percent to $81.1 million. On the other hand, Rhode Island is still feeling Encore’s impact, particularly with the table games at Twin River. Combined, Twin River and Tiverton reported $55.9 million, down from $56.2 million in 2019. Slot revenue was up 3.6 percent to $43.7 million but table game revenue fell 29 percent to $9.9 million, all of which came from Twin River; Tiverton was actually up slightly. Sports betting boosted the total by $2.3 million.
New York
had $231.6 million in gaming revenue, up 8.6 percent from 2019. VLT revenue increased 5.6 percent to $177.3 million, while the number of units decreased by 1,500 to 16.858. Resorts World NYC and its Nassau OTB had a combined win of $73.4 million, up 3.9 percent. Continuing a trend, Resorts was down 11 percent to $50.5 million, but the OTB was up 65 percent to $22.9 million. Revenue from the four casinos in the state was up 19 percent to $54.3 million. Resorts World Catskills was the market leader with $19.5 million, up 37 percent; Rivers reported $15.2 million, up 18 percent; Del Lago was up 5.9 percent to $12.5 million; and Tioga Downs’ win was $7.1 million, up 9 percent. The combined Resorts revenue from Resorts World NYC, Nassau, and Resorts World Catskills was $92.9 million, a 40 percent share of the New York gaming market.
Illinois
recorded a 24.7 percent increase in casino and VLT revenue, to $253.8 million. Casino revenue was $102.3 million, up 4.9 percent; and in a rare occurrence, admissions were up 9.8 percent to 842,999. VLT revenue was up 17 percent to $151.5 million; the number of units grew by 4,373 to 35,483, an increase of 15.2 percent. There were 7,307 VLT locations in the state, an increase of 6.7 percent from February 2019.
Indiana
had another good month in February, with casino win up 20 percent to $192.4 million. Sports win was $11.0 million, bringing the total gaming revenue to $203.4 million. January and February were the best two months that Indiana has had in years. There are two significant changes that are contributing to the growth: the racinos now have table games, and sports betting.
Missouri
casino revenue rose 11.7 percent to $149.9 million. Admissions at the state’s 13 casinos were up 9 percent to 3,133,141. Slot AGR was $128.3 million, up 13.0 percent, and table game AGR was $21.5 million, up 6.0 percent. The Kansas City market rose 16.0 percent to $52.0 million; St. Louis’s four casinos reported $74.8 million in win, up 8.7 percent, and the Out of State market reported $22.8 million, up 14.0 percent.
Louisiana’s
total gaming revenue rose 5.5 percent to $267.1 million. The state’s 12,885 VLTs produced $54.9 million in revenue, up 5.5 percent from February 2019. Slots at the tracks rose 3.1 percent to $30.3 million. Harrah’s New Orleans reported an increase of 18.5 percent to $26.5 million. Riverboat revenues rose 3.8 percent to $155.4 million. Admissions across all venues were 2,269,002, down 0.87 percent. By riverboat market, Shreveport/Bossier was up 1.4 percent to $52.7 million, Lake Charles was up 3.2 percent to $58.4 million, New Orleans was up 10.1 percent to $24.1 million, and Baton Rouge was up 5.0 percent to $20.1 million.
Mississippi’s
February gaming revenue was essentially flat when compared to 2019. Sports betting was down $600k to $2.1 million. Table game win was up $2.3 million to $29.1 million, while slot win was $141.5 million, down $1.7 million. The revenue in the Central region was up 2.6 percent to $26.8 million, the Northern region decreased 6.7 percent to $45.3 million, and the Coastal region reported $103.3 million, up 2.7 percent from 2019.
Ohio’s
four casinos and seven racinos reported a 10.5 percent increase in gaming revenue to $171.4 million in February. The four casinos had a win of $75.8 million, up 8.4 percent from 2019; slots (7400) were up 9.2 percent to $50.9 million, and tables (413) were up 6.8 percent to $24.9 million. Individually, Jacks Cleveland had $19.9 million in win, Hollywood Columbus $23.4 million, Jacks Cincinnati $18.6 million, and Hollywood Toledo $17.0 million. Racino revenue was up 12.4 percent to $95.5 million; the racinos had 11,585 slot machines, an increase of 208. Belterra Park had a slot win of $6.4 million, Eldorado Scioto had $16.3 million, MGM Northfield had $22.5 million, Hollywood Dayton had $10.4 million, Hollywood Mahoning $11.1 million, Jacks Thistledown $12.5 million, and Miami Valley $16.1 million.
Pennsylvania
gaming revenue, including the win from table games, slot machines, sports betting (online and retail), VLTs, online gambling, and fantasy sports, totaled $304.3 million, up 13.3 percent from last February. The top three producing casinos were Parx, with $57.8 million, up 17.5 percent; Wind Creek Bethlehem (formally the Sands), with $37.7 million, down 12.2 percent; and Rivers Pittsburg, with $35.0 million, up 31.2 percent. Statewide slot win was $199.6 million, up 5.1 percent; table games win was $77.4 million, up 4.6 percent; internet gambling win was $9.6 million; sports win was $4.7 million, $0.6 million from retail and $4.0 million online; VLTs had $1.3 million; and fantasy sports reported $1.7 million, up 4.5 percent from 2019.
Nevada
in February reported a 3.05 percent increase to $1.042 billion. Statewide, table game revenue was down 2.2 percent to $394.1 million, with baccarat down 11.5 percent to $116.9 million. Roulette was up 12.5 percent to $33.4 million, craps was down 10.7 percent to $33.6 million, and blackjack was up 8.3 percent to $104.3 million. Slots were up 6.5 percent to $648.4 million, and sports betting was up 6.3 percent to $38.1 million on a handle of $491.7 million.
By market, the Las Vegas Strip was up 0.75 percent to $596.1 million, and Downtown Las Vegas reported $55.6 million, down 4.1 percent. The Las Vegas convention and Visitors Authority reported a 4.5 percent increase in visitor volume to 3.3 million travelers, and convention attendance was up 1.6 percent to 760,300. Laughlin casinos won $47.4 million, up 5.8 percent, and Boulder Strip had $65.0 million, down 0.49 percent. In the north, Reno was up 30.1 percent to $57.7 million; Sparks was up 15.3 percent to $11.7 million; North Lake Tahoe had $2.0 million, up 48 percent; South Lake Tahoe rose 21.3 percent to $17.6 million; Elko Country increased 16.1 percent to $27.4 million; and the Carson Valley casinos were up 17.1 percent to $8.8 million.
In a leap year, gaming indeed leaped in February. And for the first two months of 2020, gaming revenues were up a dramatic 10.5 percent. That would be enough to cause even the pessimistic observer to feel the excitement, if we did not already know that March will be the worse month the gaming industry has ever endured, in terms of decreased revenues.
It would be nice to end this commentary on an optimistic note, a prediction for an early end to the nightmare and a quick return to the world and the life we knew just a few short weeks ago. But no one can predict when the pandemic will end or when casinos and other businesses can begin to reopen. What we do know at this moment is that there is little hope of the reopening and recovery process beginning before May. In the meantime, stay safe and healthy.
