Maryland Casinos Record Third Lowest Tally In January

The Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency has released its casino results for January, showing the state’s four casinos generated $66.2 million for the month, an improvement of 43% compared to the $44.3 million taken in January a year earlier.
Despite the impressive growth rate, the total revenue figure was considered a lackluster start to 2014, and represented the third lowest monthly tally the ‘Free State’ has reported since the Rocky Gap Casino Resort opened in May, 2013. Maryland’s second worst month was September with $65.3 million in revenue, while December was the worse with just $65 million.
Being blamed for the state’s less-than-stellar results was the cold winter month of January, as well as unimpressive performances by three out of Maryland’s four gambling establishments. Maryland Live! continues to be head and shoulders ahead of its competition, and in January generated $53.7 million in revenue, a 49% improvement from the same month in 2013. Overall, Maryland 4,270 slot machines and 174 table games currently account for 81.1% of the state’s total casino revenues.
A far cry behind was Hollywood Casino in Perryville, up 16% at $6.3 million; followed by Casino at Oceans Down up 8% at $3.2 million for the month; and lastly by the eight-month old Rocky Gap Casino with $3 million.
While Maryland Live is still hauling in roughly what it expects in any given month, the onus will now fall on the other three casinos to step up their operations, especially at a time when competition from nearby states, including Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New Jersey, threatens to further eat into its domestic casino revenues. For the whole of 2013, in fact, Maryland’s casinos generated $750 million in gaming revenue, $586 million of which was accounted for by Maryland Live at Arundel Mills.
“We’re very pleased with our performance,” explained Maryland Live’s president Rob Norton. “The addition of live action tables and poker has been very exciting for the property from an experience and revenue standpoint, while slots showed steady growth through the year, even with the addition of tables.”