While Other Casinos Struggle MGM National Harbor Thrives In MD
by Katie Callahan
[toc]MGM National Harbor beat out the other states' casinos in November, securing $50 million in monthly revenue.
According to The Baltimore Sun, this is the seventh time the casino has snagged this position. Three other Maryland casinos also reported revenue increases.
Together, all six casinos in Maryland increased revenue by 41.9 percent to $130.5 million last year at this time, reported the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency.
As the casino revenue leader since its opening in 2016, MGM in Prince George's County quickly opened up the gambling market in the state. The casino generated $50.6 million due to slots and table games in November 2017.
Losses across the board for five Maryland casinos
Comparatively, the other two largest casinos – Live! Casino & Hotel and Horseshoe Casino Baltimore – lost market share this year. Besides MGM, the other five casinos lost 13.1 percent in revenue when compared with November 2016.
Here are how some of the other casinos fared:
Horseshoe Casino Baltimore – down 20.3% ($22.7 million in revenue)
Live! Casino & Hotel – down 13.5% ($43.4 million in revenue)
Ocean Downs – up 2.7% ($3.9 million in revenue)
Hollywood Casino Perryville – up 2.6% ($5.7 million in revenue)
Rocky Gap Casino Resort – increased 8.4% ($4.1 million in revenue)
Casinos continue to generate state revenue
Ocean Downs, the only casino without table games, is planning an expansion to add blackjack, craps, three-card poker, and other games to its stable of offerings. In the meantime, the casino will hold a controlled gambling demonstration prior to the approval of the new games.
Live! Casino is also expanding, using $200 million to create a 17-story hotel, spa, 1,500-seat concert venue, more restaurants, and more parking. The hotel will come within the first quarter of 2018, but is not in response to the competition, according to the president of Cordish Gaming, the owner of the casino.
Horseshoe, also as a revenue generator usually, will open a restaurant headed by Food Network's Giada De Laurentiis. De Laurentiis is in good company with celebrity chefs Guy Fieri and Gordon Ramsay.
Since its opening in December of last year, MGM National Harbor's hotel hit capacity 242 nights to account for serving six million guests, reported WTOP. The 23-story $1.4 billion casino and hotel employs 3,700 people. Of those, 45 percent are Prince George residents, making it the county's leading tax provider.
MGM leads the way with entertainment
MGM National Harbor accomplished this by being more than an entertainment destination, said Patrick Fisher, the MGM National Harbor's executive director of hotel operations to WTOP.
"We have a great theater with world-class acts, an amazing conservatory that gets changed out five times per year, 15 retail stores, 12 food and beverage outlets, a world-class hotel, spa and salon, so much to offer to anyone that's coming and looking to be entertained."
In the third quarter, MGM reported $2.2 billion in revenue across its 14 domestic casinos. MGM National Harbor was responsible for $179.6 million of that.
The two largest casinos in the MGM family to account for these gains are the Bellagio and MGM Grand Las Vegas. They recorded $275.5 million and $305.2 million in third quarter, respectively.
In total, MGM National Harbor is MGM's fifth most-profitable casino, reported WTOP.
The casino has generated more than $32 million in revenue to the Prince Georges County. Half of that went directly to the county or to the public schools through the Maryland Education Trust Fund. Almost half of the gaming revenue goes to multiple funding buckets.
Photo by Ritu Manoj Jethani / Shutterstock.com
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Katie Callahan
Katie Callahan is a freelance journalist, blogger and copywriter who covers everything from poker, business, education and politics to construction, startups and cybersecurity.
View all posts by Katie Callahan