Dayton racino rides March wave to record total

Hollywood Gaming surpasses $7 million in revenue for second straight month


Strong month

Ohio’s casinos and racinos brought in $15 million more in March than they did in February, due in part to better weather. How regional venues fared:

Racino/casino ……….. March revenue ….. Up/down

Miami Valley Gaming ….. $10,932,776 …………… + 14.5 %

Horseshoe Cincinnati ….. $17,500,830 …………… + 12.4 %

Hollywood Gaming ……… $7,697,339 …………….. + 8.2 %

Belterra Park * ……………. $4,579,987 …………….. +1.4 %

* Closed 4 1/2 days due to flooding.

March is the best month for the gambling industry in the Midwest, and Dayton’s racino rode that wave to $7.7 million in winnings last month — its best showing since opening seven months ago.

The Ohio Lottery, which oversees the state’s seven racinos, reported that players wagered $79.4 million at Hollywood Gaming at Dayton Raceway in March. The racino’s slots payout percentage was 90.32 percent.

“March is normally a pretty good month for the industry,” Hollywood Gaming general manager Gary DeWitt said. “In the Midwest, the weather starts to break. We’re an entertainment option, and folks want to get out after a pretty long winter.”

It was the second straight month Hollywood Gaming — one of the state’s smallest racinos with 984 slot machines — surpassed $7 million.

“You can’t take it for granted,” DeWitt said. “Not every market is the same. You have to continue to experiment and keep talking to the customers and learning what their likes and dislikes are.”

Miami Valley Gaming near Lebanon had net winnings of $10.9 million, a robust 14.5-percent increase from February. It reported $126.5 million in wagers; its 91.36 percent payout was the highest among the racinos.

The state’s four casinos and seven racinos posted nearly identical revenue totals in March with the casinos ($72.9 million) edging the racinos ($72.7 million) by $155,000. Together, they combined for a record $145.6 million in revenue.

March payday

The only time Ohio’s four casinos have surpassed $80 million in total adjusted gross revenue in a single month was in March 2013, when they brought in $84.3 million. They came close last March with $79.6 million.

With more competition from the slots-only racinos — the newest of the seven opened in September — casino revenue has dipped by 13 percent in the past two years.

The Horseshoe Cincinnati, with $17.5 million in revenue, posted its best month since last March, when it came in at $20.1 million.

The Horseshoe’s best month ever was its first; it cleared $21 million in March 2013. It has hit the $20 million mark one other time — in March 2014.

“We have all the racinos open so we should start to see the whole industry throughout the state level out a bit,” Horseshoe spokeswoman Shannon Mortland said.

Mortland said the stage is going up soon for the Horseshoe’s outdoor concert series, which begins May 16 on the casino’s acre of greenspace. The Steve Miller Band, Judas Priest, and Weezer are among the bands that will play in coming months.

The Horseshoe Cleveland was the best-performing casino in March with $19.8 million in revenue. The downtown Cleveland property also had the loosest slots in the state, paying out at 92.55 percent.

The Cincinnati casino had the best payout at its 119 table games — 81.24 percent.

The Hollywood Columbus reported $18.3 million in revenue, followed by the Hollywood Toledo at $17.2 million.

The top-performing racino was the Hard Rock Rocksino in Northfield, which posted its best month with $18.5 million in revenue. It operates 2,279 slot machines, the most of the state’s 11 gambling venues.

Belterra Park reported $4.6 million in winnings, less than it won in December and January. The racino, located on the banks of the Ohio River southeast of downtown Cincinnati, was closed for more than four days last month due to flooding.

Battle brewing

The strong revenue reports coincide with a brewing battle over promotional credits, or free play. Ohio’s racinos gave out $12.3 million in free play last month, the casinos $10.5 million.

State Sen. Bill Coley, R-Liberty Twp., plans to introduce legislation Thursday that would eliminate free play unless the industry meets ambitious revenue benchmarks.

“We allow them to deduct that from gaming revenue and not pay taxes,” Coley said. “I’ve heard the analogy we’re kind of partners in this process — the state gets 33 percent of the revenue and the casinos get 67 percent. What kind of partnership is it where the junior partner pays 100 percent of this expense?”

Casino and racino operators oppose Coley’s idea.

“These are previously taxed casino revenues that the casino has chosen to reinvest in the competitive marketing of our business,” Rock Ohio Caesars, which operates the Cincinnati and Cleveland casinos, said in a statement.

“This proposal represents a clear example of double taxation. The credits are no different than coupons used by most businesses to draw people to their product.”

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