Racinos lead to gross gaming revenue growth in Ohio

Meanwhile the states of Indiana, Pennsylvania and West Virginia struggled as they all experienced a fall in their gross gaming revenues. Revenue rises to US$ 1.7 billion.

Combined revenue for Ohio’s eight racinos and four land-based casinos was up 2.2 per cent year-on-year to US$ 1.7 billion which is largely down to the success of racinos such as Northfield’s Hard Rock Racino, which saw a US$ 38.2 million increase in revenue year-on year.

Alan Silver, an assistant professor of restaurant, hotel and tourism at Ohio University who formerly worked in the casino industry told Cleveland.com: “The racinos (in Ohio) have done really well. “They have added a lot of amenities. They are in the suburbs. You don’t have to drive very far. They have done a good job with marketing.”

Pennsylvania heads the pack

Pennsylvania is still producing the most casino revenue out of the states mentioned, making US$ 3.1 billion from 12 casinos compared with Iowa’s US$ 2.1 billion. However, Pennsylvania did see a decrease of 0.8% but still remains the second biggest casino market nationally behind Nevada.

Michigan was the only other state in the region to make gains as they experienced a 1.7 per cent boost.

Cleveland experienced bad losses, recording a revenue decrease of US$ 14 million year-on-year as did West Virginia, with the biggest individual casino decline being at the Hollywood Casino Charles Town, which recorded a year-on-year decrease of US$ 24.5 million. This contributed to an overall decrease of West Virginia state revenue of 4.7 per cent, whilst Indiana also recorded a decrease of 0.5 per cent.