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Revenue was slightly down for Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course during a chilly February
By ROBERT CONNELLY
AUSTINTOWN
Revenue was slightly down for Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course during a chilly February.
The Ohio Lottery Commission and Casino Control Commission released monthly numbers Monday.
“Despite the pretty severe weather and the fact that February is three days shorter than January, we had a pretty good month, and we’re very pleased with it,” said Bob Tenenbaum, spokesman for Penn National Gaming Inc., which owns Hollywood Gaming.
Hollywood Gaming’s number breakdown for February:
$65,501,788 credits played, up almost $1 million;
$58,218,297 credits won, up about $800,000;
$430,761 promotional play credits, up more than $100,000;
$6,852,730 net win, or revenue, down about $41,000;
89.54 percent payout, up 0.20 percent;
$283 win per video lottery terminal per day, up $26.
The distribution of the net win for February is as follows: $4,534,280 for Hollywood Gaming; $2,295,665 for the Ohio Lottery Commission; and $22,785 for problem gambling services.
Hollywood Gaming’s number of VLTs has held steady for four months at 866 after opening with 850 machines.
“There’s no obvious trend since it opened,” said Alan Silver, Ohio University assistant professor of restaurant, hotel and tourism and a casino expert. January and February were similar, “so it’s flat. For a new property, I like to see more. Granted, the weather has been difficult and has taken a toll on people going out.”
Silver noted, however, that racinos had a 44.1 percent increase from February 2014 to last month — three racinos opened in Ohio during that time — while casinos had just a 1.9 percent increase. Combining racinos and casinos, revenue was $130.4 million last month, Silver said.
“I would be a little concerned with casinos because, from year to year, [that’s] not a big jump because I think there’s a lot of competition and there’s a lot of increased competition now,” he said.
Statewide, the Buckeye State’s seven racinos took a step back in almost every category besides win per day per VLT. That increased to $215 from $195 in January. Overall, the net win was $62.84 million in February, down from January’s $63.08 million.
Scioto Downs Racino in Columbus climbed to $11.37 million in net win for February, up from January’s $10.89 million. Hollywood Gaming at Dayton Raceway also realized an increase, going from $6.32 million in net win to $7.11 million in February.
The state’s four casinos had a slight climb in adjusted gross revenue, going from $64.81 million in January to $67.50 million for February. The biggest jump occurred at Horseshoe Casino Cleveland, which climbed to $20.09 million from $17.38 million in January.