Cincinnati racino off to slow start

Associated Press

CINCINNATI

Officials with the year-old racetrack and casino facility in eastern Cincinnati said they are disappointed with its revenues, which accounted for the smallest slice of Ohio’s $1.5 billion gambling market.

Belterra Park Gaming has averaged $4.6 million in revenue each month, but officials hoped those figures would reach at least $7.5 million, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported.

Pinnacle executives, who own other properties, said last month that the Belterra facility only started approaching profitability in 2015. It has brought in $55.2 million in the past year. The Miami Valley Gaming racino, north of Cincinnati, raked in $121.1 million over the same period.

The lagging profits keep a cap on jobs at the facility and could stall plans for a hotel that was set to be the next phase of development.

The competition between gambling facilities has intensified in the last few years. Ohio has seen four casinos open between May 2012 and March 2013, and seven racinos open between June 2012 and September 2014.

The Belterra racino was built in May 2014 when Pinnacle Executives turned the old River Downs racetrack into Belterra Park for nearly $300 million. When the facility opened, they said they knew Cincinnati was a tough market but were confident in their ability to cross-promote Belterra Park with their other property, Belterra Casino Resort, in Florence, Ind.

“We don’t pay a lot of attention to the competition – we run our own race,” said Pinnacle CEO Anthony Sanfilippo.

The racino ranked sixth this year among greater Cincinnati’s seven gambling destinations, ahead of Rising Star Casino in southeast Indiana.