Slot revenues see double digit decline this month
Casino officials blame hurricane
Mashantucket, Conn. —
Slot machine revenue at Eastern Connecticut casinos fell again last month, pulled down by Hurricane Sandy and an ongoing sluggish economy.
Mohegan Sun’s revenue, or “win,” which is the amount the casino keeps after paying off winning gamblers, declined 17.5 percent to $48.5 million from $58.8 million a year earlier. Foxwoods Resort Casino reported a drop of 15.6 percent to $42.9 million from $50.8 million.
October 2011 was the month in which Mohegan Sun celebrated its 15th anniversary. That combined with last month’s hurricane made the comparison “tough,” President and CEO Bobby Soper said.
“It was a huge month for us last year,” said Soper, who took over as CEO on Oct. 22. “Industry trends show that we remain in a difficult economic environment. Consumer confidence is not where it once was.”
Industry analyst Roger Gros, publisher of Global Gaming Business magazine, called the numbers released by Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun “very disturbing.”
“The numbers mirror the 20 percent decrease in revenue in Atlantic City, and the Connecticut casinos didn’t close for five days as the casinos in A.C. did,” Gros wrote in an email Thursday.
Revenue has declined every month this year compared with 2011 figures at Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun.
Mohegan’s total intake, or what the industry calls “handle,” fell 17.7 percent to $576.5 million from $700.3 million a year earlier. Handle at Foxwoods dropped 12.9 percent to $519.6 million from $596.8 million.
“The month was consistent with what’s happening in the market,” Foxwoods President and CEO Scott Butera said Thursday. “The economy is challenging on a number of fronts. The hurricane hurt us a little.”
In responding to competition from existing Rhode Island and New York casinos and planned Massachusetts casinos, Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun are adding things and tailoring marketing to focus more on their resort assets and less on pure gambling, analysts say. That process needs to continue, Gros said.
“The wild card in this equation is how much these properties are making on non-gaming amenities — the spas, the restaurants, entertainment, hotel rooms,” Gros wrote. “If they are on the uptick rather than the decline, they could partially make up for the loss in gaming revenue.”
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