Maryland Casinos Post Record $104.4M Revenues in May

Maryland’s gambling industry is on a roll, and in May the state’s five casinos generated $104.4 million in revenues, representing two straight months of record revenues, and sixth consecutive months of year-over-year gains. May’s result also marked an 8.3% improvement over the same month in 2015, with slots revenues up by 5.6% to $66.9 million, and table games up by 14.3% to $37.4 million.
Leading the way in terms of revenues was Maryland Live Casino, whose 3,923 slots and 206 table games produced $59 million in May, up by 1.8% compared to last year. Commenting on its results, Maryland Live president Rob Norton stated:
“We had back then realized we had underutilization of our slot machines, and we were at capacity on our table games. So by making the correction to match our supply to our demand, I fully anticipated that we would see an increase in revenue and an increase of taxable revenue to the state. Our slot revenue and our table revenue are up.”
Next highest was the Horseshoe Casino Baltimore which reported a 31.3% improvement in business to $28.8 million, although much of the huge gain is as a result of the police shooting of a black resident last May, and the subsequent unrest which then led to the casino’s lowest monthly haul to date.
“Certainly it affected us just like other downtown destinations,” explained the Horseshoe’s VP of marketing, Noah Hirsch.
In the meantime, Ocean Downs saw its revenues increase by 3.2% to $5.2 million, and Rocky Gap was up by 4% to $4.4 million, while the state’s only decliner was the Hollywood Casino Perryville whose business contracted by 3% to $6.9 million last month.
Maryland has had a casino industry since 2010, and since then the state has become a regular destination of choice for regional gamblers. The nearby states of Philadelphia and Ohio have enjoyed a similar situation, and as casino analyst James Karmel from Harford Community College explains:
“Mid-Atlantic casino players would much prefer to stay closer to home and play in the suburbs of Baltimore or Philadelphia or, soon, Washington. Regional casino gambling is edging out destination gambling. People go to Las Vegas for all sorts of reasons, but on the East Coast it’s really the primacy of the gambling experience.”