Ohio Casinos Finish Year With $207m Revenue Drop

Article by : Helen Jan 22, 2021

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2020 turned out to be a difficult year for Jack Cleveland Casino, Hollywood Columbus Casino, Hard Rock Cincinnati Casino, and Hollywood Toledo Casino – four major Ohio’s casinos regulated by the Ohio Casino Control Commission. Racinos also had hard times, with each of them ending 2020 in the red. Despite the fact that the gambling industry started recovering in the last couple of months, it was pretty obvious that COVID-19 would decrease the annual revenue.

Ohio’s four casinos, together with seven racinos, generated a revenue of $US1.44 billion in 2020, which is 26% less than the revenue of the previous year. The revenue drop also led to the $US175 million drop in funds coming from taxes. Without any doubt, all the blame for the drop can be thrown on the still-ongoing coronavirus pandemic that has already caused several total lockdowns. There were also many limitations on gambling venues’ capacity, which also harmed gambling revenue.

Anyway, all four casinos in the state showed promising results in December 2020. The best performance was demonstrated by Hollywood Toledo Casino, which generated almost $US20.5 million in revenue: 25% more than the previous month. Hollywood Columbus was the runner-up with $US15.4 million, JACK Cleveland Casino took third place with $US13.2 million, and Hard Rock Casino Cincinnati finished the month with $US10.7 million. Thus, the total gambling revenue improved by 0.6% month over month. On the other hand, the revenue generated in December 2020 turned out to be down 22% from $169.3 million in December 2019.

Slot machines generated the lion’s share of the total revenue. The slots brought $US44 million in December 2020, while the table games revenue totaled $US15.7 million. The Ohio Casino Control Commission pointed out that the total number of available casino games has reduced significantly due to the coronavirus-related restrictions.

Before the pandemic, the casinos could offer more than 400 tables and over 7,000 slot machines. As of now, there are 254 tables and 4,768 slots available in the state.

For racinos, December turned out to be not that productive. On the contrary, they faced with revenue drops, month over month. The December resulted in $US72.7 million, which is $US1 million less than the revenue generated in November 2020. The leader was MGM Northfield with $US14.2 million, the runner-up was Eldorado Gaming Scioto Downs with $US12.8 million, and Miami Valley closed the top with $US11.9 million.

Overall, things are not that bad for Ohio. The state’s gambling revenue saw positive growth almost every single month the casinos were allowed to operate, outperforming several other states where gambling is allowed. However, the state did see a major drop in the annual revenue due to the lockdowns and capacity restrictions, just like any other state. Despite those restrictions and limitations, the gambling venues were still showing decent results, setting the bar higher every following month. With Ohio relaxing quarantine rules step by step, there are now all great chances for the state’s casinos to get back to everyday life pretty soon.