April an unlucky month for casino profits
5/8/2014The month of April was a bad month for Ohio casinos.
Monthly revenue at Hollywood Casino Toledo plummeted to $16.1 million in April, a drop of more than $1 million from March’s $17.4 million in revenue, according to a 2014 monthly casino revenue report released by the Ohio Casino Control Commission on Wednesday.
Horseshoe Cincinnati suffered a staggering $3.4 million drop in revenue, taking in $16.7 million in April compared to $20.1 million in March. Hollywood Columbus also suffered a $3.4 million revenue loss, with $17.4 million in April compared to $20.8 in March. Horseshoe Cleveland’s April revenue was $18.8 million, a $2.5 million drop from the previous month.
The monthly revenue decline isn’t a surprise because March had five weekends and April only four, said Tama Davis, communications director for the Ohio Casino Control Commission.
“The revenue reflects the trend,” she said.
Casino officials are more concerned about the growing number of video gaming machines that are being installed at horse racing tracks around Ohio, Ms. Davis said. There are already five such games in existence, including two in Columbus and a new one expected to be installed in Cleveland this month.
A total of seven gaming machines are expected to be installed in Ohio racing tracks by the end of 2014, she said.
“It will be interesting to see their impact on the casinos,” Ms. Davis said. “They have had an impact in Columbus.”
Ms. Davis declined to provide financial details of that impact.
Hollywood Toledo officials as a policy refuse to discuss revenue, but in January they cited harsh weather conditions for their lower-than-usual profits.
John McNamara, Hollywood Casino Toledo’s spokesman, could not be reached for comment.
Contact Federico Martinez at: fmartinez@theblade.com or 419-724-6154.