Detroit Casinos Generate 16% of Michigan City’s Revenue

Detroit’s three casinos are continuing to play a vital role in revitalizing Michigan city’s beleaguered finances, and in 2015 generated $174.3 million in local tax payments, or 16% of the city’s total revenues. The impressive result was announced at a meeting held at the MGM Grand and organized by the American Gaming Association (AGA), with the organization there to explain how Detroit’s casinos have led the way in turning Detroit’s ailing fortunes around.
In attendance at the meeting was US Representative Brenda Lawrence (R-Michigan), who commenting on the remarkable figure explained:
“Detroit’s three casinos have been partners in the community’s campaign to get this great city back on the right track. We’ve seen their commitment to Detroit . . . The greatest impact can be realized in jobs offered in a wide range of careers providing a path to the middle class for the residents of Detroit, as well as their mission-based philanthropic efforts.”
In 1996, Michigan allowed legalized gambling to take place in Detroit, but by 2013 the city had fallen into bankruptcy with more than $20 billion in debt. Emergency manager Kevyn Orr subsequently helped Detroit emerge from bankruptcy in 2010, and then resigned having ensured that Detroit was solvent once more.
While Detroit is getting back on its feet, the same cannot be said for the people who live in the wider region, though, as many feel that Detroit’s three casinos have boosted the city’s finances by preying on the lower-income demographic. One local resident, Pat O’Dowd, sees casino gambling as just a “boon for the owners”, while another local, Laura Eggleson, had the following comment to make:
“People in Detroit are already struggling as it is. I just don’t see how they helped us as a community.”
Detroit Annual Casino Revenues:
2009: $1.33bn
2010: $1.37bn
2011: $1.42bn
2012: $1.42bn
2013: $1.34bn
2014: $1.33bn
2015: $1.38bn