Jun5
Ohio Sports Betting Revenue Increases by 15.8% in April Amid Regulatory Scrutiny
Ohio Casinos Revenue below Expectations?
November 27, 2018 Jim Murphy
Allowing casinos to be constructed in the state of Ohio didn’t go as planned. The voters cast a vote for it in 2009…
…when they were promised that four casinos would combine for up to $1.9 billion in revenue before taxes.
It has been almost 10 years since the approval of this bill and the people living in this US state are still trying to wrap their heads around what went wrong.
Wrong Projections
The initial forecast of $1.9 billion was quickly adjusted to $1.4 billion, but even this milestone hasn’t been reached. This figure was projected after John Kasich, the state’s governor announced…
…the installment of video lottery terminals also known as VLTs at seven racetrack.
The VLTs are placed in major cities such as Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Toledo and they are directly competing with the casinos! Their impact on tax revenue of the four cities has been notable, though.
Meanwhile, some people argue that the gambling habits of the people have changed due to the recession which took place about ten years ago. However, the racetracks saw increased profits and that contradicts such beliefs.
How much did Ohio earn?
In 2017, the state received $818 million from all four casinos combined. Comparatively, the earnings from the VLTs totaled $987 million from the seven racetracks where they can be found.
It is important to mention that taxes received from racinos are directly allocated to the school system. In other words, the local governments don’t have access to that money and they can only use the money received from casino taxes.
Matthew Schuler, Ohio Casino Control Commission Executive Director pointed out that the projections were wrong from the start.
He said: “All of them (the early projections) were wrong. It wasn’t just the campaign (for the amendment) that overestimated.”
Other Side of the Coin
In the meantime, Bob Tenebaum, Penn National Gaming spokesperson believes that the projects were right.
According to him, the casinos developed quickly in Ohio…
…going from zero to 4 and then to 11 gambling facilities in a short period of time!
It is because of this jump that making any forecasts became almost impossible. Mr. Tenebaum said that the revenue is close to the early estimates.
These claims are backed by JACK Entertainment, which just like Penn National has several properties in this state. The senior VP of Northeast Ohio operations in the company, Mark Tricano, declared: “The simple fact is that the state gaming revenue is now split between eleven locations rather than the four casinos as originally contemplated.”
Sports Betting Addition
Sports betting is the new form of gambling that is welcomed by individual US states. One state after another is ticking this box and Ohio is expected to make this form of gaming legal in the near future. However, the exact date remains unknown at this point.
Generally speaking, the gaming industry in the state is healthy! Whether the projections have been off or spot-on isn’t as important as the fact that the gambling is gaining adoption. With that in mind and now with sports betting scheduled to come, the numbers will fall in its place in time.
Source:
“Ohio casinos not producing the revenue proponents anticipated”, Erik Gibbs, calvinayre.com, November 26, 2018.
Leave a Reply
Related News
Ohio will be fine…it just takes time for gambling to take a full swing, which will definitely happen when sports betting comes…nothing to worry about.