Detroit casinos revenue up 12.5% in Oct., 3rd-highest sports betting handle since launch

Detroit’s three commercial casinos -MGM Grand Detroit, MotorCity Casino, and Penn National’s Greektown Casino Hotel- saw revenue rise 12.5% year-on-year last month, posting total revenue of $114.1 million when combined in October.

While the increase over 2020 is an expected one, given casinos were operating at 15% capacity amid Covid-related restrictions, the newly released figures by the Michigan Gaming Control Board also show a 3.6% improvement over September 2021.

Most of the revenue came from slots and table games, making up $111.5 million of the total: an increase of $18.9% versus last year, while also up 4.2% from the prior month. MGM Grand is the venue which reported the most remarkable increase over October 2020, with a revenue growth of 39%.

The MGM venue is also the one that claimed most of the market share, at 47%. MotorCity placed second, with 33%, while Greektown came in third, with 20%. Greektown posted an 11% increase in table games revenue over last year, while MotorCity’s table games only rose by 2%.

All three properties paid more in taxes than last year, as expected from the revenue increases. Combined, they paid $9 million in gaming taxes to the State of Michigan, up from $7.6 million in 2020. They also paid $13.8 million in wagering taxes and development agreement payments to the City of Detroit.

In terms of retail sports betting, qualified adjusted gross receipts were down 65.2% to $2.6 million, though in October 2020 retail wagering was the only legal form of sports betting. This has changed as of now, as online betting went live in January 2021.

Players staked a total of $34.2 million across the three casinos’ sportsbooks. MGM Grand also led this market, with $1.4 million in revenue. MotorCity placed second, at $671,000; and Greektown placed third, at $588,847.

While qualified adjusted gross receipts were noticeable down throughout the month, it is worth noting that the total $34.2 million taken in sports wagers was the highest for any full month since Michigan online sports betting has been live. Detroit’s handle for the month is also the third-highest ever since the March 2020 launch.

Sports operations were boosted by five weekends of football during October. College football also proved to be a major revenue driver, including the much-anticipated match between rivals Michigan and Michigan State, in October’s final weekend.