Ohio casino tallies jumped 10% last month, hitting $197 million. It was a decisive win for MGM Northfield Park, which outstripped the competition by grossing $25.5 million, an impressive feat for a casino with *no* table games. Jack Cleveland continues to surge, hitting $23 million (+13%) and surpassing the two Penn Entertainment casinos, so dominant for so long. Hollywood Columbus climbed 16% to reach $21.5 million and Hollywood Toledo nudged up 2.5% to gross $18.5 million. The last of the non-racino properties, Hard Rock Cincinnati, was up 6.5% to $20 million. The heat-up of Jack Cleveland didn’t hurt Jack Thistledown‘s cause, as the racino hopped 8% to $15.5 million. Scioto Downs grossed $20 million, an 11% leap, while Miami Valley Gaming delivered $20 million for co-owner Churchill Downs, a 14% vault. Belterra Park hung in there with $7 million (+2.5%), whilst Hollywood Dayton was up 8.5% to $13 million and perennial overachiever Hollywood Mahoning Valley netted $13.5 million in an 8% hop. As you’ve undoubtedly noticed, no one was revenue-negative, praise be.

Former casino overlord Donald Trump is monopolizing the headlines today but let’s not let him have all the fun. There’s plenty of other gaming-related news today. First and foremost, in the same week that Nashville has seen the latest in an endless series of mass shootings, our attention is drawn back to the Mandalay Bay Massacre, one of the worst. Seemingly every news outlet in the country has gotten ahold of the FBI report on shooter Stephen Paddock. Even though Paddock cased possible shooting sites from San Francisco to Boston, the G-men put down his Las Vegas outburst to a fit of pique. (Kudos to the Wall Street Journal for getting the feds to give up the goods.) A witness told G-Men that “was not treating Paddock well because a player of his status should have been in a higher floor in a penthouse suite.” Yup, that’ll really cause people to go postal. Happens every day.

Our East Coast correspondent had a good experience at Ocean Casino Resort last weekend. It started with no line at the “Prime” players-club check-in … although it was a quite a different (and worse) story if you fell into a lower player tier. Ocean rewards guests who “go green” (i.e., opt out of maid service) with a $20 F&B credit. “So our Saturday morning breakfast sandwiches were a few cents short of free. When we checked out, our balance due was $0.26 total. The employee asked if he should use ‘comps’ for the balance, but I paid cash.” Incidentally, Bart Blatstein holds several vacant lots in Ocean’s vicinty, but has announced no plans for them.

Gambling grosses were ultra-boffo on the Las Vegas Strip last month, up 19% over the year previous and leaving 2019 in the dust, +25%. Locals casinos didn’t fare too badly, either if not as spectacularly as their Strip brethren: up 4.5%. Strip casinos went “Kaboom!” with $712.5 million in the bank. Strip slots were tight, as 11% more coin-in yielded 16% greater casino win, for $390.5 million. Table game players also played poorly, luck being with the house to the tune of $223 million, an 11% improvement on flat wagering. Baccarat was back with a vengeance, as 20% more was played and the house took whales to the cleaners, to the tune of a 59.5% improvement in win, despite looser-than-usual hold.