Table games and slots at Detroit’s retail casinos may not be back to their pre-pandemic levels, but they’re on pace to have their best year since 2019.
The three casinos combined to bring in $106.7 million in aggregate revenue from their casino floors in July, according a release Tuesday from the Michigan Gaming Control Board. With retail sports betting revenue added, they generated $107.2 million.
Through seven months, they have combined for more than $749 million in revenue, more than $6 million more than this point in 2022, and $28 million more than 2021. The first half of 2021 did include capacity limits because of COVID-19.
Hollywood Casino way up from July 2022
Hollywood Casino at Greektown was third in Detroit casino revenue in July, but it was the only one to improve upon July 2022.
Its $25.3 million in gaming revenue was up 27.5% from a year ago. The $5.4 million increase made up for the dips from its competitors, as they were collectively up by less than $1 million from July 2022.
MGM Grand Detroit continued to lead the way with $50 million in revenue, or 47% of the market share. MotorCity Casino brought in $31.4 million, for 29% of the market share. MGM was down 2.4% from 2022, while MotorCity was down 10%.
The three are on pace to bring in $1.28 billion in revenue for the year. That would eclipse each of the past three years but fall well short of the $1.45 billion won in 2019.
Still, it’s a major win for the industry, as the current trend is running along with the rise in popularity of online casinos in Michigan.
Retail sports betting in Detroit continues decline
While table games and slots have rebounded, retail sports betting at Detroit casinos continues to plummet. Monthly handle for July was just under $8 million. July is typically one of the slowest months of the year for sports betting, but that number is more than $10 million below 2022.
They did combine for $485,763 in revenue, which is well up from a month ago. Of course, in June, the three combined to lose money to sports bettors thanks to a massive win at MotorCity.
Once again, the FanDuel Sportsbook at MotorCity Casino found itself in the red for the month, with negative $40,723. It’s the third time this year the sportsbook has paid out more to bettors than it collected.
Barstool Sportsbook at Hollywood Casino handled $3.3 million and finished the month with $397K in revenue to lead the pack. MGM Grand took $2.2 million in bets with $121K in revenue. MotorCity handled $2.45 million.
