Maryland Casinos Hit Record High in March

Maryland’s newest casino, MGM National Harbor, opened for business on December 8th 2016, a month which then saw a record high for the state’s casino market with $133.5 million in revenues. Since then, monthly revenue results have been nothing short of stellar, with January’s business rising by +42.8%, followed by +43% in February, compared to the same month last year.
Furthermore, March’s results have now been released, and the news is no less spectacular, with revenues soaring by 44.3% to $141.2 million, compared to the $97.9 million collected in March 2016, marking a new record high for the Free State.
Needless to say, the $1.4 billion MGM National Harbor is proving to be a boon for Maryland, and without its inclusion the state’s casino market would actually have fallen by 8.1%. Commenting on the latest statistics, professor James Karmel from Harford Community College, said:
“There were a lot of naysayers that said all MGM National Harbor would do is cannibalize existing revenues, [but MGM] is increasing the overall revenue picture. This is really positive news for Maryland. Part of it could be the result of a fairly solid economy.”
In March, MGM National Harbor topped the state’s market with $51.2 million in revenue, which is the first time in its four-month existence it has cracked $50 million. In the meantime, the two casinos located closest to MGM both saw declines in their y-o-y revenues, with Maryland Live down by 14.6% to $46.6 million, and Horseshoe Casino Baltimore down 2.4% to $27 million in March. Also reporting a fall in earnings was Hollywood Casino Perryville down by 1.3% to $6.9 million. On the flip side, however, Rocky Gap Casino Resort noted a 14.7% improvement to $4.7 million; and revenues at the Casino at Ocean Downs also increased by 4.5% to $4.67 million.
Regardless of the increasing popularity of MGM National Harbor, David Cordish, whose company owns Maryland Live, says that he was not worried about the casino eating into his business. Instead, he praised the mid-Atlantic region as being a great market for gaming that would avoid the same kind of saturation that caused several Atlantic City casinos to shut in its neighboring state of New Jersey.