Both July and August were good months for casinos in Ohio as an upward trend was seen regarding year-on-year earnings. For July, the state was up 2.3% with just over $162 million in gross gaming revenues. Each venue in the state except the MGM Northfield Park, saw an uptick. The August reports were just release with the same outcome, MGM Northfield trailing behind while the other casinos flourish.
Positive Earnings
In Ohio, there are five casinos in operation and seven racinos. For August, the venues brought in just over $164 million. This was an increase of 4.2% when compared to August 2018. The casino win came in at $71.4 million while the racinos earned a bit more at $92.9 million. The racinos earn casino gaming revenues via the video lottery terminal games.
For the casinos, the gross gaming revenue numbers increased by 1.6%. For the racinos, the venues were up 6.3%. The big earner for the month was the Hollywood Columbus, who took in $19.1 million. JACK Cleveland was not far behind with $18 million in earnings.
The Hollywood Toledo earned $17.2 million while the JACK Cincinnati earned just over $17.1 million. Unfortunately for MGM Northfield, August was yet another unsuccessful month. For August, the brand was down 3.2%. However, the month was slightly better than July, when the brand was down almost 6% year over year.
If the trend continues, the MGM property will have to come up with something to turn things around. The property cannot afford to continue to lose while everyone else gains ground. Hopefully, the property will be able to see a turnaround so that each venue in the state continues to earn positive gains.
New Earnings
While the casino and racino industries are faring well, lawmakers are hoping to soon bring in new earnings via sports betting. The hope is that sports betting will be introduced in the future so the state can compete with neighboring states that are already seeing success from the new industry.
In Ohio, they have to compete with West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Indiana, all states that have legalized sports betting. However, lawmakers have a ways to go before the industry could come to fruition.
A Sports Gaming Advisory Board must be launched first in order to discuss legalized sports books as well as the potential of the industry for the state. Lawmakers have only just now begun to explore the idea. Legislation would need to be created and then moved through before anything could happen.
For the most part, the discussions will most likely start this year and then hopefully by next year, legislation will be created that will help the state begin to bring in new revenues.
For now, everyone with an vested interest in the gambling industry are hoping that the casinos continue to see an increase in earnings for September, October, November and December. The earnings and certainly welcome and will help the state as lawmakers see fit.
