Did Michigan Miss A Golden Opportunity To Boost Casino Revenue In 2017?

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Written By Steve Ruddock on January 15, 2018
michigan golden opportunity

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The latest filings from the Michigan Gaming Control Board show that the three commercial casinos in Michigan earned $1.4 billion in gaming revenue in 2017. This amount surpassed the $1.385 billion generated in 2016 by a slight increase of 1.1 percent.

In 2017, the majority of the revenue (81 percent) was generated from slot machines in casinos. The amount of revenue generated from slots ($1.14 billion) was more than four times higher than the revenue generated from table games ($260 million).

The revenue figures provided do not encompass the earnings generated by the 23 tribal casinos in Michigan. The MGCB solely focuses on reporting the revenue generated by the three commercial casinos located in the Detroit area.

  • The establishment referred to as MGM Grand Detroit
  • MotorCity Casino rephrased: The casino located in MotorCity
  • The name of the casino is Greektown Casino.

Casino-by-casino revenue

Overall, all three gaming operators had a relatively stable year. None of them experienced a year-over-year decline, although MGM Grand Detroit came close. However, the increases they saw were not particularly remarkable.

Below is a breakdown of the revenue reported by each casino property:

  • The revenue of MGM Grand Detroit remained unchanged year over year, with the city’s leading casino generating $592.2 million in revenue in 2017.
  • MotorCity Casino experienced a successful year, with a 2.3 percent rise in revenue to reach $478.6 million.
  • Greektown Casino witnessed a 1.3 percent increase in revenue, reaching $329.7 million.

The state and city get their cuts

The state of Michigan and city of Detroit received over $290 million, which accounted for more than 20 percent of the total $1.4 billion.

The three Detroit casinos combinedly contributed $113 million to the state as gaming taxes from their revenue.

The three casinos not only fulfill their state obligations but also contribute a substantial portion of their revenue to Detroit. In the year 2017, the combined taxes and development payments from these casinos amounted to a staggering $177 million.

What if they offered online gambling?

Regardless of its size, a year-on-year increase is consistently positive. However, the significant aspect for Michigan’s commercial casino industry lies in the revenue it is failing to capture.

In the past two years, Michigan lawmakers have made multiple endeavors to legalize online gambling, but unfortunately, each attempt was thwarted.

In 2017, New Jersey online casinos successfully generated almost $250 million in revenue, and it is important to note that this did not negatively impact the revenue of land-based casinos. Surprisingly, the land-based casinos in Atlantic City experienced a rise in revenue for the second year in a row after a decade of decline.

If Michigan had a population and tax rates similar to New Jersey, it could anticipate receiving comparable results. Assuming that Michigan online gambling generated the same revenue as New Jersey in 2017, the three Detroit casinos would have witnessed a 16 percent year-on-year increase in collective revenue, rather than the actual 1.1 percent they observed.

Despite the fact that the state of New Jersey only generated $123 million in its first year from online gambling, this still indicates a nine percent year-on-year increase.

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