Despite the fanfare surrounding the December 8 opening of MGM National Harbor on the Maryland shores of the Potomac River, its rival 35 miles up the highway, Maryland Live! in the Baltimore suburb of Hanover, retained the status of largest casino in the state from a revenue perspective
The opening of MGM National Harbor gave the state a record-breaking December, with the new casino earning $42 million in gross gaming revenue. Maryland Live!, which initial estimates projected losing as much as 40 percent of its revenue to the massive new resort, earned $48 million in GGR for December. Notwithstanding the extra week of operations—and the fact the number represents an 11 percent year-on-year drop from December 15—the numbers reflect much less of an impact by the new casino on its neighbors’ revenue.
MGM’s other neighbor, Horseshoe Baltimore, logged a year-on-year revenue increase for December, up 9 percent from December 2015 to $29.7 million.
Maryland Live! Chief Financial Officer Travis Lamb called its year-on-year revenue drop “in line with our estimates with the new competitor entering the market.” The casino is aggressively working to regain its lost revenue and maintain its top spot in the state with a $200 million expansion program that will include a 17-story hotel planned for an early 2018 opening.
“We feel we are well positioned to be the first choice among customers in the Maryland-D.C. area,” Maryland Live! President and GM Rob Norton told local radio station WBAL. “We’re locally owned, and we’re here to stay.”
Other casinos in the state showed mixed results. Hollywood Casino in Perryville won $6 million in December, down nearly 4 percent from December 2015; Casino at Ocean Downs in Berlin, $4.1 million, about 6 percent higher; and the Rocky Gap Casino Resort in Flintstone generated $3.5 million in December, about the same as the previous December.
Like Maryland Live!, casinos across the state were well prepared for the new competition. “We prepared well in advance by reinvesting in our business to remain competitive,” Eric Schippers, senior vice president of public affairs for Hollywood Casino, told the Associated Press. “Over the last few years we have built a new hotel, completely refreshed our slot machine offerings, added a new entertainment venue featuring top performers, and built new restaurants and added new amenities.”
Officials of Prince George’s County, where MGM is located, were cautious in culling any conclusions from the first month. “Obviously, those results were only for 23 days in December 2016,” Thomas M. Himler, Prince George’s deputy chief administrative officer for budget, finance and economic development, told the Washington Post. “Another month or two are needed to fully assess MGM’s (full local benefit).”
