Ohio Revenue Rebounds at Casinos and Racinos in October

Ohio Revenue Rebounds at Casinos and Racinos in October
By Jim Tomlin

October was a bounceback month for Ohio casinos and racinos as the 11 facilities combined for a bit more than $169 million in revenue, an increase of more than $4 million over the September numbers.

And Ohio also had its best October ever, according to Cleveland.com. A story there reported that the October 2020 total of $169.1 million broke the October record of $158.4 million, set last year. That was the fourth straight month that Ohio set a new record for that particular month.

The credits played, or handle, at Ohio’s seven racinos (racetracks with Video Lottery Terminals) inched closer to pre-pandemic levels, according to the Ohio Lottery report. October’s racino handle was $1,024,671,175, the highest mark since the facilities collected $1,037,157,560 in bets in February. October saw a 2% increase over September’s $1,004,334,564.

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As for revenue, the racino VLTs collected $94,307,194 in October, a 1.7% increase over September’s total of $92,773,859. Again, that’s very close to the revenue levels from the winter months, before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down all gaming facilities nationwide including those in the Buckeye State. February’s revenue was $95.5 million.

In the 2020-21 fiscal year, which started in July for racinos, the seven facilities — 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 – have already pulled in $4.023 billion. That’s nearly half of the coronavirus-impacted total of $9.032 billion from the 2019-20 fiscal year that ended in June.

Ohio Casinos Increase Nearly $3 Million in October

Meanwhile, the state’s four casinos also saw their total revenues rise in October, with an increase of nearly $3 million from September, according to the Ohio Casino Control Commission report.

Ohio casinos pulled in $74,798,699 in October compared to $71,874,064 in September. The facilities set a state record in July with more than $86 million in revenue.

The Hollywood Columbus led the Ohio casino contingent in October with $20,344,955. All four casinos tend to draw similar figures in revenue, with a few million separating top from bottom, and that was the case again in October as JACK Cleveland Casino drew $18,743,361, Hollywood Toledo Casino recorded $18,594,358 and Hard Rock Casino Cincinnati took in $17,116,025.

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Jim Tomlin has more than 30 years of experience in sports journalism as an editor and writer. He has covered pro and college sports from football, baseball, basketball, soccer, golf, motorsports and more for publications such as the Tampa Bay Times, SaturdayDownSouth.com, SaturdayTradition.com and FanRag Sports. He now lends his expertise to TopUSCasinos.com, among other duties.

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