The Michigan Gaming Control Board on Tuesday reported casino gaming revenue totaling $104.5 million at Detroit’s three venues for the month of May, a slight decline from last year.
While 4.5% lower compared to April, the amount was still enough to extend the city’s run with at least $100 million in casino revenue to six months dating back to last December. All three venues had month-over-month declines, but Greektown Casino continues to generate revenue at a slightly better pace than 2022.
Sports wagering had a bounce back at the three brick-and-mortar venues, with gross revenue totaling more than $921,000. FanDuel’s record loss of nearly $1.7 million in April more than wiped out the combined winnings from MGM Grand and Greektown by $14,489.
Casino gaming revenue for 2023 has totaled $540.5 million, up 0.4% versus the same period in 2022. Sports wagering revenue is close to $3 million, down 59.7% compared to the first five months of 2022, as retail handle has plunged 45.5% to $73.7 million.
The state collected $8.5 million in taxes from casino gaming and nearly $34,000 from sports betting last month. The city of Detroit had a tax inflow of $12.5 million from casino gaming and more than $41,000 from sports wagering.
MGM Grand’s streak of $50 million months ends
While MGM Grand paced the three Motown casinos with $49.3 million in revenue, it was the first time since last November it failed to reach $50 million. May’s total was down 1.9% from the previous month and 1.4% from May 2022, when it finished less than $7,000 shy of that benchmark. The venue’s $254.2 million in revenue to date in 2023 is slightly off last year’s pace, down 1.3%.
Greektown Casino’s total of $23.3 million for May hit an interesting sweet spot, as it was down 7.4% from April but up by that same percentage compared to May 2022. It is the only venue with a year-over-year increase in revenue thus far, as its $122.7 million in winnings is 9.6% higher stacked up against the first five months of last year.
MotorCity Casino reported $32.1 million in revenue, which was down 6.1% from April and also represented the steepest year-over-year decline of the trio at 7.1%. Its 3.2% year-over-year decline in revenue in 2023’s first five months is the largest in terms of percentage among the three casinos, with the $163.6 million generated about $5.5 million off last year’s pace.
Sports wagering continuing to flag versus 2022
Sports betting handle was off by 25.6% compared to May of last year, and with the retail hold for the month this year just 5.4% versus the 10.5% from a year ago, gross revenue plummeted 61.5% to just over $921,000. MotorCity’s revenue swing, though, was more than $2.1 million to the positive from April, as the FanDuel-powered book collected nearly $424,000 in winnings from close to $5.3 million handle.
MGM paced the brick-and-mortar trio with just over $470,000 in gross revenue from almost $4.3 million worth of accepted wagers, thanks to a year-best win rate of 11%. After a slow start to the year, in which it paid out $54,479 on top of $5.7 million handle, MGM Grand has topped $1 million in gross revenue spanning the last four months.
Greektown barely came out ahead for May as it kept just $27,545 from more than $7.4 million handle for a skimpy 0.4% hold. That was more than 20 percentage points lower than April, when its Barstool Sportsbook routed the public for close to $1.4 million in revenue.
Still, the PENN Entertainment venue has generated more than $2.4 million in gross sports wagering revenue this year to easily outpace MGM Grand ($982,349) and MotorCity (minus $459,159). Greektown also leads the three operators in handle at $30.9 million, accounting for 41.9% of the in-person wagering activity in the Wolverine State in 2023.
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