Detroit’s three casinos have brought in revenue of $98.6m for June, down 7% from 2021. Revenue for the month was the lowest it's been since February. It marks only the third time that Detroit has fallen below the $100m monthly revenue mark since Michigan legalized sports betting.
On the retail sports betting side, revenue came in at $448,703 for June, plummeting 80% from June 2021 results ($2.3m). The total sports betting handle was $22.4m, down from $22.8m for May.
The poor showings for Detroit can be partly explained by the lack of major sporting events in June. The spring and summer are traditionally slower seasons for sports betting, with the NBA season having reached its end. The MLB is the only major sports league in play.
Of Detroit’s three casinos, MGM Grand Detroit held a firm majority of the market share with 49%, trailed by MotorCity with 34% and Hollywood Casino at the bottom of the pile with 17%. The decline in profits is bad news for the city government which collected $8m in taxes from casinos, down from $8.6m in June 2021.
However, there were a few positive signs from Detroit's casinos: throughout the first half of the year revenue (H1) from table games and slot machines rose by 5% compared to H1 of 2021.
Second quarter gross gaming revenue crept up by 0.04% year-on-year. This marginal Q2 positive could indicate that the lackluster performance for June may be an outlier for the year as a whole.
