Ohio Casinos End Year With $207M Less in Revenue Than 2019

Ohio’s four casinos concluded their year with ongoing reductions in hours and capacity — and reductions in revenue duly followed.

In 2020, those casinos combined for a total of $643,377,342 in revenue including $59,877,189 in December. That final month was a tick higher (0.6%) compared to the $59.5 million compared to the November numbers in Ohio, but for the year the revenue was off more than $207 million from the $850,984,462 that The Buckeye State drew in 2019.

RELATED: Check out all Top US online casinos

Breakdown in December Casino Revenue

Hollywood Toledo Casino led the state with $20.46 million in revenue for December, an increase of nearly $4 million from November ($16.54 million). Hollywood Columbus had the state’s second-highest revenue for December at $15.4 million, followed by JACK Cleveland Casino ($13.25 million) and Hard Rock Casino Cincinnati ($10.75 million).

Ohio’s casino revenue total is derived from slots and table games at the four facilities. Before the coronavirus pandemic forced gaming facilities to close in March the state had 413 tables and more than 7,000 slot machines in operation. In December there were 254 tables and 4,768 slots. For December, the Ohio Casino Control Commission reported $44 million in slot revenue (from $565 million coin in) and $15.87 million (from $76.9 million drop) for table games revenue.

Racinos On Pace For Better Fiscal Year

Ohio’s racetracks with video lottery terminals, also called racinos, combined for $72,711,966 in revenue on combined credits played (or handle) of $827,684,467. Those facilities are: Belterra Park in Cincinnati, Eldorado Gaming Scioto Downs in Columbus, MGM Northfield, Hollywood Gaming Dayton, Hollywood Mahoning Valley in Youngstown, JACK Thistledown in Cleveland and Miami Valley Gaming in Lebanon.

The Revenue for December was down slightly, 1.6%, from November’s $73,860,639, according to figures from the Ohio Lottery.

Ohio’s VLT figures are calculated on a fiscal year basis (from July to June) but halfway into the 2020-21 fiscal year, we can get a picture of where revenues are. The seven racinos combined for $523,439,703 in revenue from July to December, well ahead of the pace from the 2019-20 fiscal year when the state collected $820,923,109 in revenue. FY 2019-20, of course, included two full months and two partial months when everything was shut down because of COVID-19.

MGM Northfield led the state in VLT revenue for December at nearly $14.2 million, followed by Eldorado Gaming Scioto Downs at $12.8 million and Miami Valley at $11.9 million.