Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Maryland Live! saw revenue decline slightly despite the first full month of 24-hour gambling.
Revenue at the Maryland Live! casino was essentially flat between December and January, despite the first full month of 24-hour operations. The casino pulled in $35,943,756.19 in January, a decline of just under $100,000 from December. Casino revenue across the state dropped by about $900,000, as the state’s three casinos brought in $44.3 million combined. Maryland Live! is by far the largest casino with 4,750 machines. The Hollywood Casino in Perryville pulled in $5,455,111 in January, down from $5,956,140 in December. The Casino at Oceans Downs collected $2,928,919.55, down from $3,335,925.98 Casino revenue generated $14.6 million for operators with the rest going to the state’s Education Trust Fund, local impact grants, and the horse …
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Three Maryland casinos hauled in a combined total of $43 million last month.
With another casino on its way in Maryland, possibly in Prince George's, a new report shows that gambling revenue is down. Although the three Maryland casinos—Hollywood Casino Perryville, Maryland Live Casino and The Casino at Ocean Downs—brought in a revenue of $43 million last month, the gaming revenue is still down 28.5 percent—or $3.478 million—from last year. This number doesn't factor in Maryland Live, since it opened earlier this year. Hollywood Casino Perryville generated more than $5 million in November, while Maryland's three casinos combined to generate $43 million. Still, the Cecil County facility continues to see a major dip in revenue over last year. Hollywood Casino saw a 40.5 percent decrease in money earned compared with …
Monday, November 12, 2012
Mayland voters narrowly approved Question 7 last week, but not before a lot of money was spent.
Groups with a stake in Maryland's referendum on expanded gambling spent more than $35 a vote during the 2012 campaign, according to an analysis by WTOP. Unofficial results from the Maryland Board of Elections show that 2,479,262 people cast a vote on Question 7, which asked residents whether they favored the introduction of table games to the state and the addition of a sixth casino in Prince George's County. The measure narrowly passed by a margin of 51.9 percent to 48.1 percent. But before the matter was decided, opponents and supporters undertook enormous advertising efforts to sway voters. Casino operators that stood to benefit—including MGM Resorts International, CBAC Gaming LLC, and The Peterson Companies—were pitted against casinos …
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Throngs of people crowded into Maryland Live! casino Wednesday.
Maryland Live! at Arundel Mills is now the third largest casino in the United States, based on the number of slot machines. On Wednesday, the Maryland Lottery and Maryland Live!’s developers unveiled 1,043 new slot machines at the Hanover casino, bringing its total to 4,750 machines. The two biggest casinos in the nation are both in Connecticut: Foxwoods with 7,000 machines and Mohegan Sun with more than 6,400. The casino in Anne Arundel County opened June 7. Since then, the entertainment facility has added The Cheesecake Factory restaurant and Rams Head Center Stage. In addition to celebrating the new slot machines, a Sept. 12 media event highlighting completion of the casino's second phase of development featured the grand opening of …
Friday, August 24, 2012
On the heels of the gambling expansion bill's passage, Greenbelt's American Legion is thinking about its options.
The Greenbelt American Legion may add slot-like machines following the Maryland General Assembly's approval last week of the gambling expansion bill. "We are definitely thinking about that," American Legion Manager Steve Messer said. The bill included language allowing veterans' organizations in every county but Montgomery to have new slot-like machines in veterans halls. The Greenbelt American has existing gambling machines for members only that issue cardboard cards and paper, but it is interested in slots called "one-arm bandits" that issue coins, according to Messer. Some veterans feel they were added into the legislation for political reasons, forcing those who favored slots for veterans' organizations to swallow the entire gambling …
Monday, August 13, 2012
Del. Curt Anderson said he spent the weekend looking for "dirty tricks" in the Senate bill. "I found several," the city delegation chairman said.
Concerns about a Senate gaming bill will lead to nearly a half dozen amendments from Baltimore City delegates. "Did they think we weren't going to read the bill?" said Del. Curt Anderson, chairman of the Baltimore City delegation to the House of Delegates. Anderson made his comments during and after a one-hour meeting with city legislators on the version of the Senate bill that seeks to expand gambling in Maryland. Anderson said he spent the weekend reading the bill looking for "dirty tricks." "I found several," Anderson said. The Senate passed its bill Friday night and will not reconvene until 7 p.m. Tuesday. Any changes made by the House would have to be approved by the Senate. Five provisions of the Senate bill have caused concern among…
Saturday, August 11, 2012
"Concerns are everywhere," said Del. Frank Turner, chairman of the House Ways and Means subcommittee on Gaming Law and Regulation.
A bill authorizing gambling expansion in Maryland will likely be amended, according to the chairman of the House subcommittee that is holding hearings on the legislation. Del. Frank Turner, a Howard County Democrat, initially characterized possible changes to the bill passed Friday by the Senate as minor. "Mostly it's a lot of tweaks," said Turner, the chairman of the House Ways and Means subcommittee on Gaming Law and Regulation. When asked what concerns his committee might have, Turner suggested the changes might be more substantive. "I think there are concerns everywhere," Turner said. "There are all kinds of concerns and ideas. Some will be germane and others won't. I think we're going to make it a better work product than what the …
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Baltimore City delegation isn't set on special session for expanded gambling yet, could hinder plans for a Prince George's County casino.
This afternoon word broke that a deal was close for a Special Session of the Maryland General Assembly to put expanded table gambling up to the voters, but that may not be the case. Del. Shawn Z. Tarrant, D-District 40, who was at meetings today with House Speaker Michael Busch, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and 10 other members of the delegation said a deal hasn’t been brokered. "No I haven’t heard that, and to be quite honest with you, the Baltimore delegation hasn’t been pitched anything of any value to make us vote for this," Tarrant said. Talks of a special session have continued since the spring, after the General Assembly failed to come to a consensus on expanding gambling particularly into Prince George's County where politicians…
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
As prospects for a Prince George’s County casino fold, county executive said he was misled by state politician, according to The Washington Post.
While odds of state legislators bringing a casino to National Harbor appear to be dwindling, Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker is charging that he was lied to by a state politician in garnering support for the project, according to a report in The Washington Post. In Annapolis last week, plans by legislators to place a voter referendum on the ballot for gambling in November folded. And Baker soon went on the offensive saying he was “lied” to by House Speaker Michael Busch on clearing support for gambling in a special session, reports the Post. A commission set up to move the referendum forward could not reach an agreement and Baker said he was assured by Busch that there was enough support for the referendum. “I was lied to by…
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
An analysis released Tuesday challenged the claim that a National Harbor casino would undermine other Maryland facilities.
Gambling revenues would go up some $246 million statewide if Maryland were to issue a license for a casino in Prince George's County, according to a study released Tuesday. The analysis, conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Department of Legislative Services, was presented to a group of lawmakers in Annapolis, the Washington Examiner reports. The study also found that a plan incorporating both table games and a Prince George's casino could bolster profits by 20 percent at Arundel Mills' Maryland Live! casino and as much as 30 percent at a future slots facility in Baltimore. Some elected officials and competing developers have charged that building a casino at National Harbor would eat into their revenue streams. Read the full story …
Ronald L Nadeau
3:49 pm on Tuesday, February 5, 2013
It would be a Gold Mine for the State treasury. Go for it. more ›