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Casinos & Racinos in Ohio Post Record Revenue for the 2nd Month In a Row
By Jeff Osienya May 12, 2021 IndustryAfter a devastating year, Ohio’s gaming is growing stronger than ever. The state’s gaming win has crossed the $200 million mark in March to break a 2-year-old record. Come April, the state smashed its gaming revenue record once again!Different US states are finally waving goodbye to the pandemic-induced gaming slump that had plagued the country for the past year. Ohio is one among those states that are making significant strides towards a brighter post-pandemic gaming future after obliterating its previous gaming revenue records for the last two months back-to-back.
In March, the 11 casinos and racinos in Ohio brought a $215.9 million win to crush a record set in March 2019 when the state collected revenue worth $219 million. It was also the first time that the racinos and casinos generated more than $200 million in revenue for the industry that has been in operation for over 9 years.
As if March’s record-smashing performance wasn’t enough, the gaming facilities in the state went ahead and blew past March’s win by $1.2 million to collect a total revenue of $217 million.
Pent-Up Demand Has Served as a Boost to Ohio’s Gaming
For one, this incredible showing can be attributed to the recently lifted overnight curfews that had been placed as a COVID-19 precaution. As a result, casino gaming enthusiasts flooded to the state’s casinos and racinos to quench their pent-up demand after months of lockdown restrictions.
Furthermore, given that April has always been one of the busiest months of the year for gaming in The Buckeye State, there was no better time for them to bring in another record haul. Compared to April 2019, when Ohio collected a $160.2 million revenue, there was a 35.5% improvement last month.
It’s worth pointing out that there was no revenue generated in April 2020 because, at that time, all the 11 casinos and racinos in The Buckeye State had been shut down. The shutdown was part of a three-month closure of non-essential businesses imposed from March to May 2020. It was a measure introduced to curtail the spread of the novel Coronavirus that had just been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO).
And even after the gaming facilities were reopened halfway through June 2020, they still operated under strict floor occupancy limitations and curfews until mid-February 2021. Governor Mike DeWine lifted the overnight curfews on 11th February, but a 50% floor occupancy rate is still enforced in the casinos.
Crunching Ohio’s April Numbers
According to the data released by the Ohio Casino Control Commission, the four commercial casinos in the state reported a total Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) of 92.6 million. This figure is about 1.1% higher than March’s $91.6 million haul and a 31.1% surge over April 2019’s $70.6 million GGR. Further, the commercial casinos’ regulator disclosed that Slot machines last month won the lion’s share of the state’s revenue after collecting $65.7 million. The remaining $26.9 million was generated by table games.
It’s interesting to note that due to the currently imposed Coronavirus restrictions, only 327 out of 413 table games for all the four commercial casinos combined are operating. And yet, the commercial casinos still managed to blow previous GGR records. This stellar performance against all odds is a sign of the bigger potential of Ohio’s commercial gaming, especially after the casinos start operating at 100%.
Below is a quick highlight of how each of the four casinos in The Buckeye State performed last month in order, compared to their last April of full and unrestricted operations in 2019:
- Hollywood Casino Columbus – $24.7 million (+25.38%)
- JACK Cleveland Casino – $24.1 million (+41.4%)
- Hollywood Toledo – $22.5 million
- MGM Northfield Park Casino – $22.2 million (+21.3%)
The Ohio Lottery Commission regulates the remaining seven racinos in the state. Unlike commercial casinos, which offer a variety of slot machines, poker rooms, and table games, these racinos are only allowed to offer only one form of gambling, the video lottery terminals (VGT).
According to the Ohio Lottery Commission, the racinos saw a $124.5 million GGR overall, showing a 38% growth compared to April 2019 when their VLT machines generated $89.6 million in GGR. April’s GGR also narrowly passed March 2021’s haul of $124.2 million. Looking at the total handle, the racinos hit a new record high last month with $1.318 billion in total bets wagered, after besting March’s handle of $1.307 billion.
MGM Northfield Park Racino took the lead for racinos after a $24.5 million haul from VGT bets. The MGM racino facility was followed closely by Scioto Downs with a $21.7 million win, and JACK Thistledown Racino wrapped up the top three with a $19.5 million GGR.
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