In an Eastern casino market that has become over-saturated with casinos from New York to Connecticut to Eastern Pennsylvania to Delaware, few of the recent licenses issued by the state of Maryland have garnered huge revenue projections from analysts. MGM at National Harbor, though, is breaking that mold.
Analysts are predicting that the license won on December 20 by MGM Resorts International for a casino in Maryland’s Prince George’s County is likely to be the most lucrative gaming license issued in the past 10 years.
Analysts are pointing not only to the massive local population—millions of people living in the nation’s most affluent counties in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia—but to MGM’s plan to market the property as a tourist destination that visitors to the nation’s capital can count as a must-see along with the Lincoln Memorial, the White House and the Washington Monument.
MGM’s $925 million project at National Harbor, a mixed-use development along the Potomac River across from Washington, D.C., was chosen over competitors Penn National and Greenwood Gaming after a contentious fight for the license.
In an interview with the Baltimore Sun, analyst Alex Bumanzhny, director at Fitch Ratings, predicted MGM at National Harbor will generate easily more than $700 million in annual revenue, placing it on a par with some of the top casinos in the country. “It’s a large number, but I think it’s feasible in terms of the supply and demand in the market,’ Bumanzhny said.
MGM spokesman Gordon Absher told the Sun that the MGM database of customers on the East Coast and around the world—as well as cross-marketing with MGM’s Las Vegas Strip properties and their combined 40,000 rooms—will be an additional asset keeping revenue high at the casino, which is slated to open in 2016.
“Bringing the power of that brand equity to the Maryland gaming and entertainment industry is obviously a plus,” Absher told the newspaper. “Combine that with the visibility of this location, we think that’s going to be a very powerful draw and that will help Maryland attract tourists.”
Add to that the site itself, with an elevated sight line that will offer views of the nation’s capital from the hotel. “The resort site is almost letter perfect,” Absher said. “If you were to put resort operators, designers and builders in a room with a blank sheet of paper and ask them, ‘What would make a perfect site?’ this site hits on almost every aspect.”
