Midwest Casinos Post Declining Revenues in April

According to the latest results, casinos located in the Midwest state of Northwest Indiana, and in the City of Detroit in Michigan saw their revenues decrease in April, compared to the same month in 2016.
Lat month, the four casinos located in Northwest Indiana generated revenues of $80.79 million, representing a 6.9% decrease versus the $86.3 million collected in April of 2016. While table game business reported a slight increase in growth, revenues for the state’s slot machines went in the opposite direction, contracting by -4.5% to $64.5 million from the $67.5 million taken last April.
Furthermore, all the state’s gambling venues experiences declines in their year-on-year revenues, led by Ameristar down 14.2% to $18.2 million, Hammond’s Horseshoe lower by 4.1% to $35.1 million, Michigan City’s Blue Chip down 3.8% to $13.5 million, and Gary’s Majestic Star boats off 3.2% to $14 million. Commenting on the worrying figures, Ameristar Vice President Matt Schuffert blamed the lower revenues on the traditionally slow Easter weekend for casinos, while the Horseshoe Hammond VP pinned the blame on increased competition coming from Illinois, explaining:
“There are two divergent stories. Table games have been quite stable and grown ever so slightly, but that can’t offset the decline in slot machines due to the slot business.”
Meanwhile, the three casinos based in Detroit in neighboring Michigan also noted a 1.1% revenue drop to $121 million from the same mont last year, with the MGM Grand Detroit down by 1.7% to $49.6 million, the MotorCity Casino Hotel lower by 0.5% to $42.1 million, and the Greektown Casino-Hotel down by 0.9% to $29.3 million. The City subsequently collected $14.4 million in gambling taxes, with a further $9.8 million funneled towards state coffers.
Despite a less than stellar April, Detroit casinos enjoyed a robust March with business higher by an impressive 5%, and combined with previous results have still generated 1.8% more revenues at $481.4 million for the first four months of 2017, compared to the same period of time in 2016.