Casinos In Detroit Keep On Even Keel With January Revenue

While regular double-digit growth might be an ideal situation for any business, consistency in terms of income is nothing to sneeze at. Detroit casinos have shown their ability to maintain their numbers to start 2023.

For January this year, the three Michigan casinos in Detroit combined to claim $103.4 million in revenue. It’s a slight improvement from their numbers from the same month a year prior and well within an expected range for their gaming win.

Michigan casinos in Detroit start 2023 solidly

On Tuesday, the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) reported numbers for:

• Hollywood at Greektown
• MGM Grand
• Motorcity

Revenue from poker, slots, and table games for January 2023 came to $103.3 million. The casinos’ physical sportsbooks kicked in another $111,623.99.

The MGCB reports revenue from online casinos, online poker, and online sports betting play separately. Thus, aside from the percentage of online gambling revenue, these casinos get from their partners, the book is closed on January 2023 for Detroit casinos.

MGM Grand set the pace for the month again. The $50.2 million in revenue from poker, slots, and table games was just shy of matching what Holly
wood at Greektown and Motorcity contributed combined ($53.1 million). Motorcity blew away the competition with its in-person sports betting activity, though.

On a combined $11.4 million in bets, Hollywood at Greektown and MGM Grand reported an adjusted loss of over $125,000. Motorcity, on the other hand, ended up in the black. It took in over $3.7 million in sports bets and won more than $236,503 for the month.

Even Motorcity’s comparatively strong sportsbook numbers don’t salvage the situation in a year-over-year comparison, though.

In-person sports betting sees steep revenue decline

Comparing 2022 to 2021 in terms of revenue at physical sportsbooks revealed a less-than-exciting trend for Detroit casinos. In that span, their revenue from in-person sports betting dropped over 30%.

January’s numbers did nothing to stymie that trend. In January 2022, the three casinos reported $35.8 million in bets and $1.9 million in win. Therefore, January 2023’s totals are off 57.9% in terms of the amount bet and a stark 94.8% in terms of revenue.

While that decline might be of interest to data scientists and sociologists, it’s unlikely executives at the three Detroit casinos are stressing about it. For them, sports betting is an amenity and if they make any money off of it, that’s a bonus.

Casinos pay their bills with slots. In terms of win from those and table games, everything is going according to plan.

Slots and table games jump over 4% year-over-year

In January 2022, adjusted revenues from slots and table games came to $98.9 million. The casinos, therefore, outperformed that number by 4.3% last month.

What’s more, they stayed within five percentage points of their slots/table games win for the previous six months.

• December 2022 – $108.2 million (+4.6%)
• November 2022 – $99.9 million (-3.4%)
• October 2022 – $100.7 million (-2.6%)
• September 2022 – $100.8 million (-2.5%)
• August 2022 – $104.4 million (+1.1%)
• July 2022 – $105.9 million (+2.5%)

Executives at Detroit casinos would probably rather be posting 10% growth each month in an ideal world. However, many businesses envy their consistent performance and would trade places with them in a heartbeat.