The three gaming casinos in Detroit generated their first year-over-year revenue gains since 2011. The MGM Grand Detroit, MotorCity Casino Hotel, and the Greektown Casino generated .38 billion in revenues last year, which was 3.3 percent more than in 2014, the Michigan Gaming Control Board announced.
Some 83 percent of gaming revenues came from slot machines, while table games accounted for the rest.
Gaming analysts cited an improved state economy and a decrease in the price of gasoline as the primary causes for increased revenues at the Detroit casinos, whose clientele mostly are from the region, drive to the casinos, and depend upon their discretionary income to determine how much they can gamble at the casinos.
Gaming revenues at Detroit’s three casinos actually began rising during the final quarter of 2014, when gas prices in Michigan began dropping below $2 per gallon for the first time in years. That meant more quarters for slot machines, and more revenues for the casinos.
The increased revenues are good news for a city that once was the nation’s fifth-largest and was compared to Paris, but now has enough vacant property to house the entirety of Paris. City officials anticipate getting $5.2 million in additional tax revenues from the casinos this year.
