For the second time ever the seven “racinos” in Ohio are making more money than the four casino resorts.
According to the Ohio Lottery Commission revenue from video lottery terminals (VLTs) totaled $70.5 million last month, compared to $47.3 million a year ago when only four of the seven racinos had opened for business.
At the Hard Rock Rocksino Northfield Park revenues rocketed to $17.2 million in April compared to $14.6 million the year before.
Columbus’s Scioto Downs Racino’s 2,146 slot machines brought in $12.4 million last month, an 8 percent increase over a year ago. Its machines beat the 2,237 slots deployed by the Hollywood Casino in Columbus, which made $12.399 million.
Racinos are only allowed to offer VLTs, not table games.
Not all racinos are “off and running” however: ThistleDown Racino in Cleveland’s revenues declined to $9.7 million in April from $10.9 million in 2014.
Bringing up the rear a year after opening is the Belterra Parking Gaming in Anderson Township, which made $55.2 million during those 12 months. Pinnacle Entertainment CEO Anthony Sanfilippo several months ago admitted to being disappointed in the property’s numbers.
Normally Ohio’s casinos blame less than stellar numbers on being near to a racino. However, Belterra appears to have suffered from being near to the Cincinnati Horseshoe Casino. The Belterra was the result of the renovation of the old River Downs racetrack.
The Belterra does appear to be improving its numbers in recent weeks. In April its profits were $5.6 million, the largest since opening.
According to Belterra General Manager Kevin Kaugman, “We are excited to continue introducing the great amenities that we have at Belterra Park to Cincinnati and its surrounding areas. Therefore, looking ahead, we are now in the midst of a great marketing and advertising campaign that will help inform the entire region about the outstanding gaming, racing and entertainment that we have to offer.”
On the other hand, it was good news and bad news for the Buckeye State’s casinos. Revenues at the Horseshoe casinos in Cleveland and Cincinnati declined slightly in April compared to the year before, but ticked up at the Hollywood casino in Columbus and Toledo. The four casinos brought in a total of $69.5 million last month up 0.7 percent from 2014. That puts them just under the total raised by the racinos.
Penn National’s Hollywood Casino Columbus made $18.6 million, a 7 percent increase over the $17.4 million of a year ago.
That makes the second time in the three years that gaming has been legal in the state that the racinos have beat the casinos. The last time was in October.
The figures come from the Ohio Casino Control Commission.
At the Horseshoe Casino Cleveland slot revenues declined but table games profits increased, although in total the casino revenues decreased half a million dollars from year ago.
The Horseshoe celebrated its third anniversary this week. It has so far hosted 13.2 million visitors and made $714 million. During that time it has also been responsible for booking 99,000 local hotel rooms and comping $4.4 million in meals at Cleveland eateries.
The casino also created 1,600 new jobs and generated almost $150 million in payroll, while paying $48.7 million in taxes to Cuyahoga County and $11.4 million to the city of Cleveland.
The casino touts its efforts to bring about a revival of the Cleveland downtown area. According to General Manager Marcus Glover, “We came in and said what we were going to do.” He told 5ABC, Our model was a very integrated one with downtown where we partnered with these downtown establishments, hotels, restaurants, attractions to bring about a full casino experience and so rather than having all of this in house we basically send it out.”
The developer of the casino, Dan Gilbert, has always said he plans to build the casino in two phases, and that the development on three floors of the historic Higbee Building is just the beginning. However, so far no timeframe or schedule has been announced.
That may be about to change, Glover intimated. He told 5ABC, “I think now that we have the steady state of how many operations are going to be open in terms of racinos and casinos we can now evaluate fully what a second phase casino should have and contain and what it should look like and feel like.”
In a separate but related development, Mahoning County is asking a judge to uphold a decision by the Austintown Zoning Board of Appeals that would allow summer evening concerts at the Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course racino.
A nearby nursing home and skilled rehabilitation facility has sued to try to stop the concerts. It claims outdoor amplified concerts will disturb the care of recovering elderly patients.
