Detroit Casinos Down 6.5% To $112m In April
May 14, 2014 1:27 pmThe Michigan Gaming Control Board has released its gambling results for Detroit’s three casinos, revealing a 6.5% decline in revenues to $112.3 million in April, compared to the same month in 2013. The state then collected $10.1 million in gaming taxes last month.
During April, MGM Grand Detroit saw its revenues fall by 4.1% to $47 million; MotorCity Casino revenues declined by 3.8% to $38.2 million; while at Greektown Casino revenues fell sharply by 13.6% to $27.1 million. Overall, MGM Grand Detroit now accounts for 42% of Detroit’s casino market, followed by MotorCity Casino Hotel with 34%, and Greektown Casino-Hotel with 24%.
At this rate Detroit’s gaming revenue is on track to decline for three years in a row, a trend hastened by increased competition from nearby Ohio, which only opened its first casino in 2012. In 2013, Ohio’s four casinos subsequently generated $821.28 million in revenues, while the same year Detroit saw its casino revenues suffer a record decline of 4.7% to $1.35 billion, down $67 million compared to the previous year.
As a result, Detroit’s casino market which accounted for 16% of the city’s money stream in 2001, fell to 14% or $171 million in 2012, and is now likely to be at least $10 million a year lower come the end of 2014. The continuing slide in Detroit’s gambling industry has even prompted speculation one of the city’s three casinos could soon go out of business, and as Richard McGowan from Boston College’s Carroll School of Business Management, explains:
“I can’t imagine the three Detroit casinos are going to all survive. I’d be really surprised. I think one will eventually go because the owners are going to say that it is just not worthwhile.”
Back in the 1960’s Detroit was the richest per capita city in the USA, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Between 2000 and 2010, however, Michigan lost 48% of all its manufacturing jobs possibly due to the North American Free Trade Agreement which was first signed in 1994. The situation has continued to decline since then and on July 18, 2013 Detroit filed an $18–20 billion municipal bankruptcy filing, the largest ever in U.S. history.