MGM National Harbor is Maryland’s gaming cash cow

WASHINGTON — Six months after opening, MGM National Harbor continues to generate the lion’s share of gambling revenue among Maryland’s six casinos, and it appears to be coming at the expense of Maryland Live! at Arundel Mills.

Maryland Lottery and Gaming says the state’s six casinos generated a total of $130.5 million in gaming revenue in June, down from $136.5 million in May. The total figure was still up nearly 40 percent from June of last year.

When MGM National Harbor, which opened in December, is excluded, total gaming revenue from the other five casinos was down 13.9 percent from what they generated in June of 2016.

MGM National Harbor’s share of June’s revenue was $50.1 million.

Maryland Live! generated $41.8 million, a 22.1 percent decrease from last June.

Gaming revenue at Baltimore’s Horseshoe Casino was down 9.6 percent from a year ago to $22.1 million.

The state’s three other, smaller casinos — Hollywood Casino Perryville, Casino at Ocean Downs and Rocky Gap Casino Resort — all posted year-over-year increases in June gaming revenue.

Maryland divvies up casino revenue between the Maryland Education Trust Fund and small-and minority-owned businesses, local impact grants, local jurisdictions and the state’s horse racing industry.

You can see year-to-date totals of where the money is going, according to the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Commission.

Jeff Clabaugh

Jeff Clabaugh has spent 20 years covering the Washington region's economy and financial markets for WTOP as part of a partnership with the Washington Business Journal, and officially joined the WTOP newsroom staff in January 2016.

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