Across the board decreases have been felt by Detroit’s trifecta of land-based gaming establishments through October as the impact of ongoing casino strikes is laid bare.
This has seen the three venues report revenue of $82.8m, which is down 19.45 per cent from $102.8m year-on-year. Table games and slots generated $81.7m (2022: $100.7m), while sports betting declined to $1.1m (2022: $2.1m).
This is due to approximately 3,700 workers electing to strike from October 17, 2023, in a bid to protect their healthcare and improve wages that are not keeping up with the cost of living, along with improved job security and fair workloads.
Earlier in the week, workers launched a digital advertising campaign that called on players to boycott four online casino and sports betting platforms.
These are associated with three land-based gaming establishments, namely MotorCity Casino, Hollywood Casino at Greektown, and MGM Grand Detroit. FanDuel, BetMGM, Hollywood iCasino and ESPN BET are those potentially affected.
For the year-to-date (January 1 to September 30), table games and slots revenue is 1.3 per cent up when compared to the same period one year earlier.
Once again, the aforementioned venues maintained their usual places in the standings, with MGM Grand Detroit on top with revenue of $37.3m, however, this is down 19.6 per cent year-on-year from $46.4m. Market share stayed consistent at 46 per cent.
MotorCity Casino was next in line despite a 22.8 per cent to $25m (2022: $32.4m) to secure a market share of 31 per cent (2022: 32 per cent).
Hollywood Casino at Greektown followed suit with a 11.7 per cent downfall to $19.4m (2022: $21.9m) for a 23 per cent slice (2022: 22 per cent).
Furthermore, the month also saw $6.6m (2022: $8.2m) paid in gaming taxes to the state of Michigan, with $10.1m (2022: $12.4m) distributed in wagering taxes and development agreement payments to the city.
In addition, the properties reported $18.1m in total sports betting handle, with gross receipts coming in at $1.1m. This is down 22.9 per cent and 47.6 per cent from the $23.5m and $2.1m recorded during the previous year.
July QAGR per casino saw MotorCity lead the way with $669,028 (2022: $680,649), ahead of MGM’s $365,705 (2022: $711,959) and Hollywood Casino at Greektown’s $90,430 (2022: $702,147).
The trio paid $42,531 (2022: $79,182) in taxes to the state, and reported submitting $51,982 (2022: $96,778) in taxes to the city of Detroit based on retail sports betting revenue.
During the month, fantasy contest operators reported total adjusted revenue of $2.1m (2022: $1.5m) and paid taxes of $178,346 (2022: $126,719).
From January 1 through to June 30 fantasy contest operators reported $16.8m in aggregate fantasy contest adjusted revenues and paid $1.4m in taxes.
