Dayton racino posts record month in February

Cold temps didn’t keep crowds away.


Shaking off the cold

Revenue at southwest Ohio’s four gambling businesses in January (31 days) and February (28 days):

Casino/racino……………… Jan. ……………… Feb. ….. Up/down

Horseshoe Cincinnati ….. $15,231,701 ….. $15,572,994 …….. + 2.24 percent

Miami Valley Gaming ….. $9,698,157 ….. $9,548,640 ……… — 1.54 percent

Hollywood Gaming ……… $6,326,676 ….. $7,113,509 ……….. + 12.4 percent

Belterra Park ………………. $4,901,389 ….. $4,517,267 ……….. — 7.8 percent

Total ………………………….. $36,157,923 …. $36,752,410 ……… + 1.65 percent

Southwest Ohio’s gambling businesses held up well against February’s frigid weather, and its newest entry posted a record month.

Hollywood Gaming at Dayton Raceway surpassed $7 million in revenue for the first time, while the Horseshoe Cincinnati casino improved its bottom line by giving away less free play.

The Dayton racino reported net winnings of $7.1 million, its best showing in its first six full months of business. It beat January’s number by nearly $800,000 despite having three fewer days in the month and one fewer high-traffic Saturday.

Its average winnings per slot machine per day was $258, well above the average of $215 at the state’s seven racinos.

“It was clearly a good month, but this early in the process it’s hard to draw any conclusions on a single month’s revenue,” Penn National Gaming spokesman Bob Tenenbaum said. “Obviously we much prefer to go up.”

Revenue went up as outside temperatures went down. The area’s average temperature of 20.4 degrees was the fourth-coldest February on record.

The Dayton racino and Scioto Downs in Columbus were the only two racinos in Ohio to see revenue increases in February.

The Horseshoe Cincinnati reported adjusted gross revenue of $15.57 million, up from January’s $15.2 million total.

Less money was gambled at the Horseshoe, but the casino improved its bottom line by decreasing its free play by $1.2 million. The Horseshoe now is solely owned by Rock Ohio Gaming, which purchased Caesar Entertainment’s 20 percent share last month.

The Horseshoe Cleveland led the Ohio casinos last month with $20 million in revenue. Hollywood Toledo beat its January number by nearly $1 million despite having to close for 24 hours due to a Level 3 snow emergency. It finished with $15.2 million in February.

The Hollywood Columbus was the only casino to report a lower total last month, slipping to $16.6 million from $17.9 million in January. The Columbus and Toledo casinos are operated by Penn National Gaming.

The Ohio casinos together netted $67.5 million, slightly better than February 2014’s $66.7 million total.

The state’s seven racinos totaled $62.8 million in net winnings in February, a $244,000 decrease from January.

Miami Valley Gaming near Monroe and Belterra Park in Cincinnati fell just short of matching their January totals, but the two racinos had better average winnings per machine per day. MVG reported $9.5 million in revenue for the month while Belterra finished with $4.5 million.

The impact of southwest Ohio’s gambling boom continued to take its toll on the three riverboat casinos in southeast Indiana. The Cincinnati casino and the three area racinos all have opened in the past 27 months.

The Hollywood Lawrenceburg, owned by Penn National, reported adjusted gross revenue of $14.3 million in February. That’s a 63 percent drop from the $39 million in revenue the casino reported three years ago, in February 2012.

Belterra and Rising Star, also located in Indiana, combined for $11.5 million in revenue last month. They combined for $20.6 million in February 2012.

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