April Revenue Results For Detroit Casinos

The gross gaming revenue for April 2021 in Detroit has been reported and is lower than what was generated in 2019. The three casinos in Detroit have reported combined gross gaming revenue of about 109 million USD for April. However, the results for mobile sports betting and iGaming in Michigan have not been released as yet and is expected to push the overall gross gaming revenue for the three casinos even higher. The current figure only represents the gross gaming revenue generated by retail sports betting, slot machines and table games played on location.

Breakdown of the Figures

The three Detroit casinos highlighted in the results are MotorCity, Greektown and MGM Grand Detroit. Together, the casinos generated 108.9 million USD in gross gaming revenue from the previously mentioned gaming methods. A 40% market share was claimed by MGM Grand making it the leader in the market thus far, representing a total of about 42.8 million USD in Gross gaming revenue. Furthermore, MotorCity grabbed a 37% market share while Greektown’s share came in at 23%.

A deeper look at the figures revealed that of the total gross gaming revenue in Detroit, 107.44 million USD was generated by table games and slot machines. The reports from the Michigan Gaming Control Board does not give specific totals for what each gaming method generated. Other totals include in-person sports wagering having generated 1.54 million USD and daily fantasy sports contests brought in just under 900,000 USD. Currently, the three gaming properties are still operating at reduced capacities of 15% per casino floor. Health and safety regulations are still being maintained by Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

A Changing Industry

The land-based casino in Detroit did not beat its gross gaming revenues reported in April 2019. The comparison for April between 2019 and 2021 shows a decrease in gross gaming revenue of 13% given that the figure reported for April 2019 came in at 125 million USD. However, results from mobile sports betting and online gaming are still on their way. With these totals added then the overall figure should outperform that of 2019. The basis for this argument is that online sportsbooks reported a total of 32.3 million USD in gross gaming revenue from 359.4 million USD of wagers placed in March 2021. Additionally, online casinos reported gross gaming revenue coming in at 53.5 million USD.

The results from Detroit and Michigan as a whole, show that it follows the same trend as the overall U.S. gaming industry at the moment. The evolution of the market has made for lucrative improvement according to reports from the American Gaming Association (AGA). The report for Q1 2021 showed a total of just over 11.1 billion USD generated in gross gaming revenue derived from iGaming, Online and retail sports betting as well as the totals from commercial land-based casinos. Even without figures from tribal casinos, it still marks the highest total in U.S. gaming history. However, the AGA did say that without the totals from mobile sports betting and iGaming, the overall total would have been significantly lower. These two sectors of the market brought in more than 1.7 billion USD in the first quarter and without it, there would not have been any hope to beat the record high figure set in Q1 2019.

Commercial Gaming in Detroit

When it comes to market share for Q1, the results have shown that commercial gaming in Detroit has outperformed that of mobile sports betting and iGaming combined. When Michigan embraced online casinos and sports betting, federally recognized tribal gaming properties that held Call III gaming compacts were also included. From the results in Q1, commercial gaming accounts for the majority of the market share generated by mobile sports betting and iGaming.

From January through March 2021, online casino gross gaming revenue came in at 204.1 million USD. Detroit’s casinos, MotorCity, Greektown and MGM Grand made up 120 million USD through their online platforms. As for the 55 million USD in gross gaming revenue from mobile sports betting, the commercial casinos in Detroit generated 37.4 million USD of the total. The online platform used at MotorCity comes from FanDuel whereas MGM Grand makes use of the sportsbook and interactive gaming provider from MGM Resorts, BetMGM. Greektown makes use of the Barstool Sportsbook and Casino app. Additionally, Greektown is also operated by Penn National Gaming which holds a large stake in Barstool Sports and facilitated the launch of the Barstool Sportsbook brand in September 2020.