Maine casinos report slight bump in revenue, chip in USD 45M in taxes

Exact year-end figures for Oxford Casino won't be available for a few months but that casino has told the state that it will pocket USD 31.5 million after taxes, just USD 7,600 more than 2013 when players gambled USD 677 million there.

After he noticed the one-month totals for December 2014 looking markedly better for both casinos than December 2013, he asked an auditor about the weather — it turned out December 2013 had three more snowstorms.

"Which could account for some of this change," he said.

Another factor for that one month: Hollywood Casino made the unusual move of staying open around the clock the week after Christmas. Oxford Casino has been open 24/7 since it opened in June 2012.

"When Oxford first opened up, there was a significant impact on Bangor, somewhere in the nature of 20 percent," Fleming said. "We've been kind of waiting and tracking this to see if Bangor was going to level out. You figure the players in Maine have figured out where they're going to go."

Oxford, too, may have leveled off to a new normal after an initial honeymoon period.

"We're now getting to that point, 'Is this going to be the benchmark for them?'" he asked.

Table game revenue was up year-over-year for both casinos, which may indicate a shift in the type of players coming through the door, Fleming said.

All that gambling resulted in more than USD 45 million in revenue-sharing through casino taxes.

The town of Oxford received more than USD 1.4 million, the city of Bangor USD 578,000, the Community College System USD 2.1 million and more than USD 8 million went to support or promote harness racing.

Oxford Casino ended the year with 846 slot machines and 26 table games. Hollywood Casino had 900 slots and 16 table games. This winter, the Legislature's Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee will once again consider if and where Maine should add more casinos.