In 2007, when officials from Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack and Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack & Resort in West Virginia lobbied the legislature to allow table games, casinos in Pennsylvania and Ohio did not exist. The feared revenue losses came to pass and West Virginia’s two northern panhandle racetracks posted only 1 million in total gross revenue from slots and table games in fiscal 2016, down from 8 million in slots revenue alone in 2007.
In fiscal 2016, Wheeling Island collected about $97.1 million in total gross revenue from slots and table games—a slight increase over fiscal 2014 and 2015, but about half the $190.3 million the track collected in 2009. In 2007, the racino grossed $199.6 million from slots alone (table games were not offered until fiscal 2008), according to figures provided by the West Virginia Lottery Commission. The casino’s original slot machine area closed a few years ago due to lack of demand.
From July 1 through September 30, adjusted gross earnings at the Mountaineer racino totaled $4 million, compared to $6.4 million in profit posted during the same period in 2015 and less than half of the $9.1 million collected in the same period in 2014, according to Reno, Nevada-based Eldorado Resorts Inc., Mountaineer owners.
Meanwhile the Rivers Casino in downtown Pittsburgh grossed $342.7 million and the Meadows Racetrack and Casino near Washington, Pennsylvania grossed more than $230 million in fiscal 2016. Hollywood Casino in Columbus, Ohio, grossed $213.5 million in calendar year 2016.
West Virginia Lottery Commission spokesman Randy Burnside said gambling still is an important industry in the state.
“The expansion of casino gaming in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Maryland has negatively affected our total sales over the last five years, as we projected,” he said. “In fiscal year 2016, total distributions to the state were more than $501 million, compared to $565 million in fiscal year 2011.” But, he added, “The gaming industry is constantly evolving and the issues facing those facilities are something that each racetrack casino’s parent company, and the state, are constantly working to combat. Each of West Virginia’s four racetrack facilities has benefited from the track capital reinvestment fund, and are first-class destination gaming facilities.” Under the track capital reinvestment fund, the state reimburses the casinos a certain percentage of the cost of acquiring new slot machines.
To stop the revenue declines, West Virginia casino officials have lobbied lawmakers for tax cuts and other incentives, with no success to date. Burnside added newly elected Governor Jim Justice is aware of the casino industry’s challenges but he said he wasn’t sure if the legislature would take any action in the upcoming session.
West Virginia’s most profitable track is the Hollywood Casino at Charles Town in the Eastern Panhandle, about a 90-minute drive from Washington, D.C. It posted $381.8 million in slot machine and table game revenue in fiscal 2016. The state’s fourth racetrack is the Mardi Gras Casino and Resort at Nitro, which grossed slightly more than $59 million in slots and table game revenue in fiscal 2016.
