Ohio Casino Revenues Fall 2% to $798M in 2016

The Ohio Casino Control Commission has released its last batch of results for 2016, with the state’s casino revenues in December coming in at $66.34 million, down by 7.6% compared to the $71.58 million collected during the same month in 2015. As a result, Ohio’s four casinos generated revenues of $797.94 million for the whole of 2016, representing a 2% drop from 2015’s total of $812.32 million.

In fact, the only Ohio casino to report year-on-year growth in 2016 was Penn National Gaming’s Hollywood Casino Columbus, which noted a 1% gain in December, and a 2% gain for the year with revenues increasing from $210.3 million in 2015 to $213.5 million in 2016.

On the flip side, Jack Entertainment Cincinnati casino saw its revenues fall by 8% in December, and by 4% for the whole of 2016 with revenues contracting from $196.5 million in 2015 to $189.3 million in 2016.

The Jack Cleveland casino also saw its revenues plunge by 12% in December, and by 4% in 2016 to $203.6 million from the $212.7 million generated the previous year.

Meanwhile, the Hollywood Casino Toledo reported a dramatic 12% contraction in its revenues for December, but a more moderate 1% decline to $191.6 million in 2016, having reported revenue growth of 5% in 2015.

Racinos

In December, Ohio’s seven racinos went in the opposite direction with revenues from its 982 video lottery terminals rising by 1.9% to $73.6 million versus $72.2 million for December 2015. As a result, the state’s racinos generated a total of $893.5 million in 2016, up by around 7% compared to the $831.36 million taken for 2015. Commenting on their impressive results, casino industry consultant Alan Silver praised the racinos for their “really strong year”, and for developing into “entertainment centers”. As he explains:

“The racinos are in the suburbs, and they’ve become these suburban entertainment joints. They’ve done a great job in adding new amenities.”
Silver said he also envisages table games being added to their gambling options sometime in the future. The faculty member at Ohio University further recommended that the state’s gambling venues should explore ways in which to get a younger generation of gamblers through their doors, possibly through the introduction of skill-based slot machines.