Atlantic City casino revenue in October was down 8 percent compared to 2019, and down $4.5 million compared to September. But the combination of online gaming, sports betting, and casino revenues grew significantly year over year. Total gaming revenue for the month was $338.1 million, up 15.0 percent from 2019, and $14.8 million more than in September.
Internet gaming was $93.5 million, up 106.7 percent from 2019, and sports win was $58.5 million, up 26.3 percent, with the handle a nation-leading $830.0 million. Casino win was $186.1 million, down 8.0 percent, with slot win of $132.8 million, down 9.9 percent, and table game win of $53.2 million, down 2.8 percent.
By casino: Borgata had a total win of $67.5 million, up 10.5 percent. Its casino win was $41.1 million, down 20 percent, its internet win was $22.0 million, up 184.6 percent; and its sports win was $4.2 million, up from $1.8 million in 2019. Resorts and Resorts Digital had a combined win of $47.7 million; casino revenue was $11.5 million and digital revenue was $36.2 million. Golden Nugget won $38.6 million, up 21.2 percent; Hard Rock won $35.4 million, up 25.6 percent; and at the bottom, Bally’s had $11.4 million in revenue, down 17.1 percent from October 2019.
Pennsylvania reported total gaming revenue of $320.2 million, up 12.8 percent from 2019 and up 12.6 percent from $84.2 million in September. By category, the win was $154.7 million from retail slots, $63.3 million in retail table games, $40.3 million in online slot win, $16.9 million for online tables, $36.7 million from sports on a handle of $525.8 million, $2.4 million from online poker, $2.4 million in retail VLT win, and $3.2 million from fantasy sports. So total online revenue was $59.7 million.
By property, casino revenue, including both retail and online gaming was: Parx with $54.9 million, up 0.47 percent; Rivers Philadelphia $39.0 million, up 68.9 percent; Valley Forge $35.2 million, up 112.4 percent; Hollywood $34.9 million, up 33 percent, Wind Creek $33.1 million, down 16.4 percent, Rivers Pittsburgh $25.5 million; Mount Airy $23.2 million, Meadows $21.0 million; Harrah’s $18.4 million; Mohegan Sun $17.5 million; Presque Isle $9.0 million; and Lady Luck with a win of $21.9 million, down 32.4 percent from 2019.
Colorado casino and sports revenue in October was $82.6 million, up 22.9 percent from 2019, and $17.7 million higher than the September win of $64.9 million. Black Hawk reported $48.8 million, Cripple Creek $11.4 million, and Central City $4.9 million. The sports win in Colorado was $17.4 million on a handle of $210.7 million, with $206.4 million of the handle being bet remotely. Excluding sports, the total casino win in Colorado was $65.2 million, 2.9 percent less than the previous year.
Iowa casinos’ revenue was $121.5 million, up 1.58 percent year over year. Sports win was an additional $9.0 million on a handle of $81.93 million. That made the total gaming revenue to be $130.5 million, up 4.1 percent from $125.3 million in 2019 and up 4.8 percent from $124.5 million in September.
Illinois’ total October gaming revenue from casinos and VLTs was $247.5 million, down 0.8 percent; Illinois has not reported October sports activity. In September the state’s revenue was just slightly lower, at $245.8 million, not including $6.8 million win from sports. The gap between the declining casinos revenue and increasing VLT revenue continues to widen. Casino revenue in October was $79.1 million, down 25.9 percent; admissions were 556,382, down 35 percent from 2019. VLT revenue was $168.4 million, up 18.0 percent; there were 37,459 units in 2020, up 14.1 percent year on year.
Indiana’s thirteen casinos generated $166.6 million in casino win, down 6.7 percent from October 2019, and also down from September’s win of $170.0 million. In October, slot win was $141.2 million, down 5.9 percent from 2019; table game win was $25.3 million, up 11.2 percent; and sports win was $21.0 million, on a handle of $230.9 million. So total gaming revenue was $187.6 million, which was up 5.0 percent from 2019, and up 1.8 percent from September.
Louisiana’s gaming revenue in September was $206.8 million, down 12.1 percent from 2019 but up 20.3 percent from September, when revenue was $171.9 million. October riverboat revenue was $115.6 million, down 14 percent; land-based Harrah’s New Orleans reported a win of $13.9 million, down 39.3 percent; slot win at the racetracks was $22.7 million, down 10.6 percent; and VLTs win was up 8.7 percent to $54.6 million. Admissions to the riverboats, racinos, and Harrah’s New Orleans were 1,212,856, down 41.5 percent from October 2019. The Shreveport/Bossier market reported $43.1 million in win for the month, down 8.2 percent; Lake Charles had $38.4 million, down 23.9 percent; New Orleans $15.7 million, down 24.9 percent; and Baton Rouge $18.2 million, down 0.3 percent.
Maryland’s casino revenue was $142.6 million in October, down 0.9 percent from 2019, and also down from $143.7 million in September. In October, MGM National Harbor generated $56.5 million, down 5.5 percent from 2019; Live! Casino gaming win was $49.5 million, up 4.1 percent; the Horseshoe Baltimore had $17.3 million in win, a decrease of 9.5 percent; Hollywood had $7.0 million, up 19.9 percent; Ocean Downs generated $6.9 million, up 4.2 percent; and Rocky Gap had a win of $5.2 million, up 10.2 percent.
Missouri’s thirteen casinos had a win of $133.8 million in October, down 5.4 percent from 2019, with admissions down 23.7 percent to 2,235,600; by comparison, in September the win was $129.3 million. Compared to 2019, slot revenue was down 3.0 percent to $115.8 million, and table game win fell 17.0 percent to $17.9 million. By market, Kansas City was down 2.7 percent to $48.4 million; St. Louis was down 8.2 percent to $65.5 million, and the Out-of-State market reported a win of $19.5 million.
Mississippi casino revenue in September was $178.8 million, down 5.0 percent from 2019 but down only 0.8 percent from $180.3 million in September. By region, the coastal casinos were down 9.8 percent to $106.4 million, compared to 2019; the northern casinos reported $47.4 million, up 1.2 percent; and the central casinos had a win of $24.8 million, up 5.9 percent. Sports win was $8.7 million on a handle of $61.1 million, compared to a handle of $48.0 million and win of $12.2 million in 2019. Slot handle in September was $1.791 billion, with a win of $143.6 million for a hold of 8.02 percent; last year the handle was $1.810 billion, a win of $140.7 million with a hold of 7.7 percent. Table game drop was $142.9 million with a win of $26.0 million, the hold was 18.2 percent. The combined sports and casino revenue for the month was $187.5 million, down 6.4 percent from $200.5 million in October 2019.
Ohio casinos and racinos generated $169.2 million in gaming win in October, up 6.8 percent from 2019, and up 2.8 percent from $164.5 million in September. In October, casino revenue was $74.9 million, up 9.9 percent compared to 2019, with slot win of $52.4 million, up 13.6 percent, and table game revenue of $22.3 million, up 4.6 percent. By property, the results for the four casinos were: Jack Cleveland $18.7 million, Hollywood Columbus $20.3 million, Hard Rock Cincinnati $17.1 million, and Hollywood Toledo $18.5 million. Racino revenue was $94.3 million, up 4.4 percent. Belterra Park reported a win of $6.8 million, Eldorado Scioto Downs won $16.7 million, MGM Northfield $20.2 million, Hollywood Dayton $11.2 million, Hollywood Mahoning Valley $10.6 million, Jack Thistledown $13.8 million, and Miami Valley $14.6 million.
New York gaming win fell 13.0 percent to $194.5 million in October, compared to 2019. VLT revenue decreased 9.7 percent to $155.7 million, with the two Resorts World properties accounting for $33.4 million, 21.4 percent of the total. Resorts World NYC was down 22.0 percent to $19.8 million. The Nassau OTB was up 37 percent to $13.6 million. The four casinos in the state reported a decrease in win of 24.3 percent to $38.8 million, with Resorts World having the largest win, $13.7 million, down 16.4 percent from October 2019. Combining VLT and casino revenues, Resorts World had a 24.2 percent market share in New York with $471.1 million in total win.
Nevada casinos reported $822.6 million in revenue in October, down 19.5 percent from 2019, but up slightly from the $821.1 million in September. For October, the Strip reported $375.7 million, down 30.2 percent compared to 2019. Las Vegas had 1.9 million visitors in the month, down 49 percent, and hotel occupancy was 46.8 percent with an average room rate of $111.50, down 24 percent. Downtown Vegas had $52.8 million of revenue, down 22.6 percent; the Boulder Strip was down 24.7 percent to $59.0 million; and North Las Vegas was down 26.6 percent to $19.3 million. Reno was up 6.0 percent to $56.4 million, Sparks was up 2.5 percent to $12.1 million, North Lake Tahoe was up 21.9 percent to $2.2 million, South Lake Tahoe was up 10.8 percent to $21.6 million, Elko County was up 1.2 percent to $26.4 million, and the Carson Valley area reported $10.0 million, up 1.9 percent.
By game type the Nevada win was: twenty-one $60.1 million, down 34.7 percent; baccarat $59.3 million, up 4.6 percent; craps $27.5 million, down 13.0 percent; and roulette $18.4 million, down 20.0 percent. Slot machine win was $565.8 million, down 19.0 percent. Nevada’s sports books won $42.3 million for the month, on a handle of $659.8 million.
South Dakota’s casinos and VLT revenues were up 10.5 percent to $32.4 million in October, but that was down from September revenues of $34.5 million. Casino revenue was up 3.2 percent to $9.5 million, compared to 2019, and VLT win was up 13.9 percent to $22.9 million.
Nationwide in October, sports betting produced a handle of $2.798 billion in October (14 states reporting) with a win of $233.6 million (15 states reporting). By comparison, in September, the handle was $2.562 billion and the win $132.7 million. Ranked by handle the top five states were New Jersey with $803.0 million, Nevada $659.8 million, Pennsylvania $525.8 million, Indiana $230.9 million, and Colorado $210.7 million. By win the rankings were New Jersey $58.5 million, Pennsylvania $47.8 million, Nevada $42.3 million, Indiana $21.0 million, and Colorado $17.0 million. (New York does not report handle; in October that was probably about $30 million. Illinois is a full month behind the rest of the nation in reporting sports betting. Its September figures were a handle of $305 million and a win of $6.8 million, and both numbers probably were higher in October, which would put the state’s handle at fourth on the chart, behind Pennsylvania, but ahead of Indiana and Colorado.)
There may not be a way to make a silk purse out of the state of gaming in 2020, but there are positive trends. Sports and online gambling – both increasing sharply - are continuing to dominate the gaming narrative. The sports win of $233 million in October would, if it were from a single state, rank that state in the top five on the jurisdictional revenue chart. We can expect sports betting to get even stronger as more states legalize it and the world of sports returns to its normal level of activity. And online gaming is just in its infancy, yet in Pennsylvania it is already 18 percent of the state’s gaming revenue. In Atlantic City, Borgata’s online gaming was more than 50 percent of its casino revenue, Resorts is generating three times as much revenue online as it does from bricks and mortar gaming, and at the Golden Nugget the online revenue is over twice the conventional casino revenue. More conventionally, both Ohio and South Dakota, states without sports or online gaming, are outperforming last year, and Maryland has been close.
On the other side of the coin, closures and additional restrictions are equally important in the gaming narrative. This Adams Review Revue covers the month of October, but what follows October are five months of cold weather, the prime flu (and, probably, virus) season. Vaccines are on the way, but they will not arrive soon enough to impact service businesses like casinos in calendar year 2020. As California has illustrated with its recent “stay-at-home” order that affects 27 million people, there are more restrictions on the way. Still, Pollyanna might say it could be worse - after eight disastrous months in 2020, gaming revenues are only down 33 percent for the year; by way of comparison, Macau is down 80 percent for the first ten months of 2020. And for each month since April, the year over year comparison has improved. That may not be a silk purse, but it is not a sow’s ear either.
