Casino’s June Revenue Climbs 9%

BERLIN — A look at the June revenue numbers for the Casino at Ocean Downs and the three other operating casinos across the state revealed Maryland’s gaming industry has far exceeded projections for fiscal year 2013, which came to a close last week.

According to the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency revenue report for June, the four operating casinos in Maryland raked in over $66 million in June, bringing the fiscal year 2013 total to more than $608 million. The revenue figure for the fiscal year that ended on June 30 came in at nearly $77 million more than the Maryland Board of Revenue Estimates projected.

The Board of Revenue Estimates had projected an estimated $531.5 million would be generated in the fiscal year with $498 million coming from slot machines and another $33 million coming from table games. Instead, slot machines at Maryland’s four operating casinos, including the Casino at Ocean Downs in Berlin, generated about $560 million, while table games at three of the up-and-running casinos generated a whopping $48 million, or around $15 million more than projected.

Last year, the voters in Maryland approved through referendum the addition of table games the state’s casinos and thus far Maryland Live in Anne Arundel County, the Hollywood Casino in Cecil County and the recently-opened casino at Rocky Gap in western Maryland have added the tables. Ocean Downs is approved for adding table games but has not yet done so although the plan is to expand in the future.

Even without table games, the Casino at Ocean Downs posted solid gains in June and in the fiscal year that just ended. Ocean Downs generated $4.8 million in June, up from the $4.3 million reported in June 2012, representing an increase of $415,000, or just over 9 percent. The gross gaming revenue per machine per day for Ocean Downs in June was $200.44. A look at the fiscal year comparison also shows significant gains for Ocean Downs. In fiscal year 2012, the Berlin casino generated roughly $47.9 million, a figure that swelled to $50.3 million in fiscal year 2013 that ended last week.

The Casino at Ocean Downs generated $2.3 million for the Educational Trust Fund in June, while the fiscal year 2013 total for education came in at nearly $25 million. Closer to home, Ocean Downs generated nearly $265,000 in local impact grants in June and the fiscal year 2013 total came in at $2.7 million.