Detroit Casinos Start 2023 with $103 Million January Revenue

Compared to last year’s January revenue, the Detroit casinos had a 4.4% improvement in revenue. The Michigan Gaming Control Board’s report stated that the three Detroit retail casinos were able to pull $103.4 million as their combined adjusted revenue from the start of 2023.

In January 2022, the three retail casinos had their combined adjusted revenue at $99 million. This year’s January reports say that they were able to make a combined revenue of $103 million, and even though the increase is slight, it could signify a better year performance for the retail casinos.

MGM Grand Detroit had the best month out of the three retail casinos for the second time in a row with their $50.3 million January revenue. They were followed by MotorCity Casino, which made $30.3 million in total revenue for January. Then, Hollywood Casino at Greektown was reported to have made $ 22.9 million in revenue in the month.

Another interesting trend with the Detroit retail casinos is how even though there was an improvement from January 2022, the casinos’ revenue declined from December’s report. The $103.4 million revenue that the three casinos made in January was a 4.5% decrease from the $ 108.3 million revenue that they put together in December 2022.

MGM Grand was able to maintain its revenue above the $50 million mark for both January and December. However, while its total January revenue was $50.3 million, its December revenue was $51 million. Hollywood Casino in GreekTown fell by 5.8% from December’s revenue. MotorCity Casino had the biggest fall as they took an 8.2% hit from their performance in December.

The total handle for the Michigan retail sportsbooks was reported as $15.3 million for January. This is a 57.4% decrease from last year’s monthly reports because, in January 2022, the total handle for the same retail sportsbooks was $35.9 million.

Hollywood Casino received the most amount in accepted bets as its handle was reported as $5.8 million. MGM Detroit’s January handle was reported as $5.7 million, and MotorCity Casino came in last with its $3.71 million.

Interestingly, MotorCity casino, which received the least amount of cash through bets, was the only one of the three retail casinos that did not have negative returns from January bets. They were able to end up with $266,613 in January gains. MGM Grand and Hollywood Casino in Greektown, on the other hand, reported negative revenue in January. MGM Grand took a $54,479 hit in its January report, and Greektown had a $62,755 negative report in January.

January 2023 was MGM Grand’s third losing month through the last twelve months. Greektown Casino’s $62,755 loss was also its second all-time highest loss, only coming after last February’s revenue report.

Sports betting in Michigan has not had any signs to show that there will be a steady increase in its performance in 2022. This quiet decline reflects across both online and retail sportsbooks.

Since online sports betting was legalized in Michigan, retail sportsbooks have been on a steady decline year after year. In 2022, the retail sportsbooks were only able to cross the $30 million mark in total online handle once in January, and since then, they have not been able to cross it again.

Fantasy Sports, on the other hand, were able to generate $16.8 million in revenue throughout 2022. This was a 4% increase from what they were able to generate in the previous year.

While the year was on, about four operators ceased their operations, but in December, fantasy sports was still able to generate $1.6 million in revenue. Even though the Fantasy Football Players Championship took a loss in December, it was still an impressive month in terms of revenue for the industry because DraftKings and PrizePicks were able to generate profitable revenue.