For 10 months in a row revenues at the four state-authorized casinos in Ohio, the Toledo, Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, have been lower than the year before.
Last year revenues were 2 percent lower than in 2015 and for the first two months of 2017 they were 5 percent lower than the year before.
This is leading gaming market watchers to speculate that perhaps the Buckeye State’s gaming market is saturated. Besides the four casino resorts, Ohio also has its seven racinos, where state-authorized video lottery terminals operate in competition with the casinos. The first of these, Scioto Downs, opened in Columbus in 2012. All have a combination of horse racing and slot machines. Other locations include Dayton, Cleveland, Akron, two in Cincinnati and Youngstown.
Jay Masurekar, head of gaming, travel and internet investment banking at KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc. in Cleveland, told the Toledo Blade: “We do have too many places to gamble in Ohio,” noting that there are few areas in the state where a casino isn’t within a hundred miles. He added that gaming “is a mainstream activity now, like dining at a restaurant, concerts, or a movie,” and so competition for scarce dollars is even more fierce.
Cezar Froelich, of Taft, Stettinius & Hollister a law firm that helps gaming companies secure financing, added, “What the industry is being faced with these days is there’s a lot more casino options for people than there ever used to be.”
In some cases, racinos, like the Hard Rock Rocksino near Cleveland offer more amenities than the casino resorts, including a comedy club, concert hall, steakhouse—and gaming. If you don’t like to play, you can still enjoy yourself.
Another problem is that the casinos are in the urban areas, while the racinos are in the suburbs, where parking is free and traffic and crime are less.
The only place where racinos are not competitive is in table games, which they are not allowed to offer.
Racinos and casinos in Ohio also feel the cold breath of online gaming on their necks. E-gaming, says Masurekar, “is aimed at regular folks that don’t have time and money to travel. They can play just 15 minutes or half hour as they like.”
