Ohio Revenue Declines

Ohio’s 11 casinos and racinos saw a 1.1% drop in April compared to a year ago, according to the Ohio Lottery Commission and the Ohio Casino Control Commission.

The casinos are Hollywood Columbus, Hollywood Toledo, JACK Cleveland Casino, and JACK Cincinnati Casino. The racinos–race tracks that are also casinos–are Belterra Park, Hollywood Dayton, Hollywood Mahoning Valley, JACK Thistledown Racino, Miami Valley Gaming, Scioto Downs, and xMGM Northfield Park.

In a report from Cleveland, the casinos and racinos had combined revenue totaling $160.2m (￡123m) in April, compared to $162m (￡124m) in April 2018. The figures show that most of the revenue across the board was down in April. For instance, revenue at the?JACK Cincinnati Casino amounted to $16.8m (￡12.91m) last month compared to $17.5m (￡13.44m) a year ago.

The?Hollywood Toledo casino saw a decline of more than $1m (￡768,000) in 12 months. In April 2018, figures totaled $18.2m (￡14m); a year later, that number fell to $17.1m (￡13.14m).

Turning to the racinos, Scioto Downs recorded $14.2m (￡10.91m) in April, a decline from $15.4m (￡11.83m) a year earlier. The xMGM Northfield Park racino saw a drop in revenue to $20.2m (￡15.52m) in April 2019 from $22.8m (￡17.51m) last April.

However, it wasn’t all doom and gloom across the board for the casinos and racinos. Some did report gains over the 12-month period.

For example, the?Hollywood Columbus casino was the only casino to report an increase in revenue. It brought in $19.7m (￡15.13m) in April compared to $19.3m (￡14.83m) in April 2018. Ohio racinos seemed to fair better than casinos, with five out of seven reporting a rise in figures.

These included Belterra Park ($7.4m; ￡5.68m); Hollywood Dayton ($9.7m; ￡7.45m); Hollywood Mahoning Valley ($10.8m; ￡8.30m); JACK Thistledown Racino ($12.3m; ￡9.45m); and Miami Valley Gaming ($15.1m; ￡11.60m).

Decline Follows Positive Growth

In February, casino and racino revenue increased by 5.5%. This was a continuation of the record-breaking year the sector had in 2018. According to a report from mid-January, racino revenue rose by 7% whereas casinos saw a rise of 2%.

At the time, it was noted that there was a concern that racinos were eating into casino revenue. However, it was said that this came mainly from people in the casino sector. With racinos bringing in more money this year compared to last April, it remains to be if those same concerns will be voiced again, and, if so, will anything be done about it?

It can be argued that while racinos may have the upper hand for now, they don’t necessarily supply the same things that casinos do. For instance, the figures from the Cleveland report note that while the casinos have table games and slot machines, racinos only have slots.

It may be that in the following month of results, casinos will show a rise in profits.