In a recent announcement made by the Michigan Gaming Control Board, the revenue of three Detroit casinos in November accrued some considerable year-on-year gains. The gross revenue of MGM Grand Detroit, Greektown Casino-Hotel, and MotorCity Casino Hotel has gone up 0.4 percent to $113.1 million in November. Similarly, when summed up, the revenues of all the three Detroit casinos went up by 1.4 percent year on year.
Of all the three, MotorCity had the second largest market share in November after seeing a revenue bump of 2.7 percent that took it up to $38.2 million. MotorCity was followed closely by MGM Grand Detroit which rose 0.8 percent to $48.6 million. Greektown Casino-Hotel trailed behind its two counterparts with $26.3 million, which was the lowest revenue registered. According to the state regulator, all the three casinos cumulatively remitted $9.2 million in gaming taxes to Michigan. In addition to the gaming taxes, in November all three casinos further brought in $18.3 million in wagering and development agreement payments.
There is a lot of optimism that the revenues of these Detroit casinos are bound to improve eventually especially in the event that the United States Supreme Court declares that the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) is unconstitutional in what is considered to be a game-changing petition that was filed by New Jersey. In fact, according to expert predictions from research firm Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, Michigan is likely to be one of the first states that will offer sportsbetting once the Supreme Court rules in favor of New Jersey.
“The sports betting customer is likely different than the typical casino customer,” Eilers & Krejcik managing director Chris Grove, said in an interview with Detroit News. “It would create new customers and new revenue for casinos.”
At the moment, casino taxes are the Detroit’s third-largest revenue source after state revenue sharing and income taxes – thus, the improvement of the casino business is core to the city’s overall financial security in the long term.
