Detroit's casinos see record $1.45B revenue in 2019

MotorCity Casino Hotel, MGM Grand Detroit and Greektown Casino-Hotel generated record revenue in 2019.

Led by record years for MGM Grand Detroit and MotorCity Casino Hotel, Detroit's three casinos reported $1.454 billion in revenue last year, topping its previous 2018 peak by $10 million, as reported by Crain’s Detroit Business.

MGM led the way with a 43 percent market share in 2019. The casino made $623.5 million in revenue, 0.7 percent more than its record the year prior, according to the Michigan Gaming Control Board. MotorCity took the second-largest slice of the pie at 34 percent market share. Its revenue was $493.6 million, 0.8 percent higher than the record it set the previous year.

The rest of the market, 23 percent, was swept up by Greektown, which had revenue of $337.2 million. That was up 0.6 percent from the previous year but fell short of its $352.8 million record in 2011, when the three casinos achieved a then-record of $1.4 billion.

Market share percentages in 2019 were unchanged from full-year 2018 figures. Each casino saw a year-over-year uptick in fourth-quarter revenue in 2019. Greektown's increased 3.4 percent to $87.1 million, MotorCity's rose 2.9 percent to $123.4 million and MGM's ticked up 0.2 percent to $157.2 million.

Greektown also saw the largest year-over-year increase in December when its monthly revenue rose 2.2 percent to $30.1 million. MotorCity's increased negligibly to $43.3 million, and MGM's dipped 0.5 percent to $54.4 million.

The state of Michigan collected $117.8 million in gaming taxes in 2019, or $800,000 more than the previous year. Detroit city was paid $184.2 million in wagering taxes and development agreements, compared to $182.9 million in 2018.