Maryland Casino Revenue Drops in June But Still Growing

Maryland’s casino revenue continues to bounce up and down in month-over-month comparisons, but steady growth in what seems to be a maturing Maryland casino market also seems evident according to the latest report from Maryland Lottery and Gaming officials.

Total revenue from Maryland’s six casinos, all of which opened between September 2010 and December 2016, dropped for the second straight month in June compared to last year’s generated revenue.

Maryland’s casinos, which include MGM National Harbor, Live! Casino & Hotel, Horseshoe Casino Baltimore, Hollywood Casino Perryville, Ocean Downs Casino and Rocky Gap Casino Resort, reported a combined $142.9 million in gross revenue for June 2019, which was 4% less than the $148.9 million reported in June 2018.

In May 2019, Maryland casino revenue also dipped to $152.3 million, down 2.7% from the $156.5 million number reported in May 2018.

Maryland’s Casino Revenue Grew in Fiscal Year

Despite the last two months of decline, Maryland’s total combined casino revenue actually grew 4.8% during the 2018-19 fiscal year according to the same report.

During the last reporting period, which began July 1, 2018 and ended June 30, 2019, Maryland’s total revenue across all six casinos grew to $1.76 billion. The 2017-18 fiscal year’s total was $1.68 billion.

That overall positive growth in combined casino revenue supports Maryland Lottery and Gaming Director Gordon Medenica’s reported viewpoint that the state’s casinos will continue to see long-term growth despite sometimes experiencing month-over-month dips in reported revenue such as that over the last two months.

A good example of how this might work would be that Maryland’s casinos set a single-month record earlier this year in March hitting $163.2 million for the first time, a boon that surely helped Maryland’s gross casino revenue grow overall during the last 12 months despite the last two months of decline.

Maryland Casino Winners and Losers for June 2019

Horseshoe Casino in Baltimore saw the biggest drop, from $22.8 million in June 2018 to $18.7 million in June 2019 which was a loss of 18.2%.

Next down the line was Ocean Downs Casino in Berlin, which reported a 4.8% decrease in revenue from last year. Ocean Downs reported $7.2 million in gross revenue in June 2018 and $6.9 million in June 2019.

MGM National Harbor, which brings in more revenue per year than any other casino in the state, also took a bit of a slide this month at $56.9 million in revenue reported for June 2019 down from $59.3 million in June 2018, a 4.1% decrease.

Meanwhile, Hollywood Casino Perryville, which was Maryland’s first casino to open in the state back in 2010, dipped 3.9%, while Live! Casino & Hotel in Hanover made a 1.7% gain.

The biggest winner from a month-over-month perspective was Rocky Gap Casino Resort in Flintstone which lead the charge with a 7.5% increase over last year’s gross revenue number for June.

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