MGM National Harbor vs. Maryland Live! vs Horseshoe Casino Baltimore (College Park: hotels, house)

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by adelphi_sky

That's like me planning my budget based off of a bonus I may never get in 2016. lol But, states do it anyway for some reason. I guess they feel if the actual revenue is lower than projected, people will forget.

The thing is that they don't forget. Look at school funding, Hogan brought in the highest level of State funding for education in history. It just didn't continue the percentage increase from the O'Malley years, therefore it's a "cut" in funding. The Legislature has proposed taking the shortfall out of the Pension System. Again.

And again, gambling money wasn't "new" money, it was "in place of" money.

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by North Beach Person

And again, gambling money wasn't "new" money, it was "in place of" money.

Right. They inflated the budget based on money that didn't exist. They replaced real money with projected money that never materialized. I get it.

I guess the best way would have been to wait a few years to get an idea of how the revenues from casinos would stabilize and go from there. Add MGM, that stabilization is at least 3 to 4 years out.

[North Beach Person]

Here's a local to Calvert County example.

Several businesses in Chesapeake Beach have video lottery terminals (technically not slot machines but it's difficult to tell the difference).

That Town has received millions of dollars over the years from those machines. When gambling in the State was authorized a few years ago a little paragraph was inserted into the legislation which made those machines permanent (before they had to be re-authorized every couple years) and also cut Calvert County and North Beach into the money. To give you an idea of the money we're talking about, the year before the first casino/slot parlor opened up those machines in those 3 or 4 businesses took in 139 million dollars in wagering.

The deal North Beach got was that the first $100K credited to the Town was reserved for the Bayside Boy's and Girl's Club (it's had funding and fundraising issues since its founding 10 or 12 years ago. They received a large grant from BGE that was supposed to be an invested endowment. Instead the original leaders of the Club went on an empire building program and burned through the entire amount in less than two years. Their successors made an apparently conscious decision to not do any fund raising. That has proven to be a bad business plan) with the Town receiving the overage past the $100K.

Conservative estimates from the State placed that overage amount in the neighborhood of $500K/year. That has not materialized, last year the overage was $102K. Which softened the blow from a 10% or so drop in assessments.

Remember what I said about the pie remaining the same size with more pieces being cut out of it?

As an aside, when the news hit we were going to get that gambling money you should have seen the line of pleaders for funding: from the businesses asking us to pay for their advertising costs and even their water, sewer and electricity costs to performing arts groups to animal shelters. The total requests totaled over $3M/year.

[EdwardA]

Originally Posted by adelphi_sky

That's like me planning my budget based off of a bonus I may never get in 2016. lol But, states do it anyway for some reason. I guess they feel if the actual revenue is lower than projected, people will forget.

The bond market however never forgets.

[Mos82]

MGM already stated that the majority of its revenue comes from NON GAMING events/activities. This is why I'm truly excited for the Casino to open...I dont gamble but I interested in the concert hall and the shops and restaurants

[adelphi_sky]

Let the feeding frenzy begin. This is my guess, but I suspect MGM will further decrease Maryland Live!'s revenue. The Horseshoe will take a hit too. I wish we could fast forward 2 years to see what happens after MGM opens.

The Horseshoe is still undershooting its monthly revenue projections, which were expected to average at least $31 million. However, the South Baltimore gaming venue saw its highest monthly revenue yet at $24.7 million in March. The Horseshoe's previous best month was November when it brought in $23.4 million.

At Maryland Live Casino, the Horseshoe’s biggest rival, revenue fell by 15.4 percent to $51.9 million from $61.8 million in March 2014. Hollywood Casino Perryville brought in $6.5 million last month, a decrease of 17.7 percent or $1.4 million from March 2014. The Casino at Ocean Downs generated $4 million in March, a 3.3 percent slip. And revenue at Rocky Gap Casino Resort fell 3.2 percent to $3.9 million last month.

As Horseshoe grows, revenue declines at Maryland's other 4 casinos - Washington Business Journal

[adelphi_sky]

“Given MGM’s track record of catering to high-end players and having upscale assets in Las Vegas and Macau, we believe MGM will have the upper hand of attracting some of these players to the new facility,” Wieczynski said.
Susquehanna International Group gaming analyst Rachael Rothman agreed that MGM National Harbor, which will have a 4,800-space parking garage and a restaurant lineup that matches the company’s Strip casinos, will be a preferred destination for the affluent population bases in Virginia and Maryland.
The development has 3.8 million people living within a 25-mile radius. Another 7.1 million people live within 50 miles of the site.
Wieczynski expects MGM to cross-market National Harbor with the company’s Strip resorts, such as Bellagio, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay and Aria.

Despite high taxes, MGM National Harbor offers huge potential | Las Vegas Review-Journal

[santafe400]

I think the MD Live! Casino would have done well with an adjacent upscale hotel property connected to it. I don't think location wise, MD Live! is at a disadvantage as they are located roughly in-between both the Baltimore and Washington, D.C. markets, essentially where the bulk of MD's population and wealth is. Also, parking is relatively easy and there are a pleura of restaurants in and around the casino.

I honestly don't care for Horseshoe's downtown Baltimore location. It's not really in walking distance to the harbor or business district and pretty much sits along a freeway in-between the stadiums and a bunch of warehouses. Since so much of that area is broken up by interstates and massive parking lots, the casino is kind of in an unattractive area of town in my opinion.

Let's me also mention the often forgotten casino up at Perryville that I have frequented on several occasions. I personally like the place. It's never overly crowded, parking is super easy, and it has easy on and off access to I-95. Granted that $7 toll just before the casino exit is not doing it any favors from folks living around Baltimore.

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by santafe400

Let's me also mention the often forgotten casino up at Perryville that I have frequented on several occasions. I personally like the place. It's never overly crowded, parking is super easy, and it has easy on and off access to I-95. Granted that $7 toll just before the casino exit is not doing it any favors from folks living around Baltimore.

Two indications that it won't survive 5 years after MGM opens.

[justtitans]

Originally Posted by adelphi_sky

Two indications that it won't survive 5 years after MGM opens.

Not sure what they were thinking. There is clearly an over saturation of casinos. Same thing happened to the casinos in Detroit/Cleveland.