Ohio? What’s Ohio? Casinos in Detroit may as well ask that as they continue to recover from the dent in their business made by the Buckeye State. July revenues were up 3% and, 
for the year to date, casino revenues are up nearly 5%. Unfortunately, Dan Gilbert can’t catch a break these days, as revenue fell 4% at Greektown Casino-Hotel ($27 million). Lately, casino revenue has been as elusive for the Cleveland Cavaliers owner as an NBA trophy. What Greektown lost, MotorCity more than gained, up 6% to $39 million. Predictably, MGM Grand Detroit continued to reign supreme, up 5% and banking 49%. The MGM really is a case of building a better mousetrap and having the world — well, Michigan, anyway — beat a path to your door.
* Casinos and racinos in Maryland are taxed to within an inch of their life (60% for slots), so it’s not entirely surprising that — with the addition of Horseshoe Baltimore — state gaming-tax revenues crested the billion-dollar mark for the first time in FY2015. Most of that ($525 million) came from the lottery, actually, but casinos were good for $487 million, a 19% increase. Casino revenue as a whole also eked its way across the $1 billion mark, of which a very small amount ($10 million) went to women- and minority-owned businesses and small businesses. July saw $99 million in casino business; anyone want to lay odds that the gaming houses cross the century mark in August?
* Melco Crown Entertainment is facing troubles in the Philippines, where it just furloughed 100 employees in response to increasing losses. City of Dreams Manila had banked heavily on drawing Chinese punters (especially those avoiding Macao) but has found that they’re migrating to South Korea instead, even Australia, for a bit of a flutter. The timing of the news, coming a few months ahead of the opening of Studio City in Macao, is hardly auspicious. As for City of Dreams Manila, with its Nobu Hotel, DreamWorks amusement park and two nightclubs, it seems to be trying hard to be something for everyone.
And Studio City may be in big trouble too!
“Because of the possibility that the table allocation for Studio City’s gaming area may be lower than anticipated, Studio City International Holdings Limited has engaged Kirkland & Ellis LLP as its counsel and Moelis & Company LLC as its investment banker to assist it with contingency planning ahead of any table allocation decision for Studio City.”
Motor City went to server-based several months ago, and some of the video poker games feature worse odds on the weekends than during the week. So … if they’re doing that with the VP, I imagine they’re doing something similar with the reels. I’m not sure why they would feel the need to do that.
For a locals casino, player reinvestment is minimal at best, but MGM’s is worse (GT’s is by far the best). But they don’t have to give good reinvestment, judging from the crowds on the weekends.
Detroit is on the upswing in general, good to see people walking downtown at night, and going out to the city and spending money. Some gentrification of sketchy neighborhoods is going on too.