Casino revenue drops 15 percent in August

Revenue at the two Maryland casinos dropped to $13.1 million in August, a 15 percent decline after the state’s gaming industry posted its best-ever month in July.

Hurricane Irene forced Casino at Ocean Downs to close for two days, but the statewide gambling slump was led by Hollywood Casino Perryville, the state’s first and largest casino. Hollywood brought in $8.5 million last month, down from $10.2 million in July, according to figures released Tuesday by the Maryland State Lottery Agency.

Bill Hayles, the casino’s general manager, said during an interview Friday that August was a soft month for the Cecil County slots parlor due to a wide range of factors, from the calendar to Mother Nature.

July held five weekends and Independence Day, typically a strong time for other casinos in the region.

There were only four weekends in August and the region was rocked by an earthquake and soaked by a hurricane that left many in the northeast part of the state without power for a week.

Perryville has less than a year of revenue data on hand — the casino opened Sept. 27 — and executives there are still unsure of what business will be like from month to month.

“I came from the Atlantic City market where the summer was a busy, busy time of year,” said Hayles. “But when I was at New Mexico and when I was in West Virginia, the summers were slower than the early spring periods. It wasn’t as much of a destination place in the summertime, Charles Town, W.V.”

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Hayles said there is “no question” the Perryville casino has competition for would-be gamblers’ time and money.

“There’s a lot of fairs and weekend festivals that we compete against in the summer,” he said.

Ocean Downs generated $4.6 million after posting $5.3 million in revenue the month before.

Its 750 slot machines each averaged $197 in revenue per day, still well above expectations.

In Perryville, the average revenue figure fell to $183 for each of the 1,500 machines.

Of the $13.1 million in August casino revenue, the casino operators held on to $4.3 million, or one-third. The rest was collected by the state, and nearly half of that, or $6.4 million, went to education programs.

Lottery Director Stephen Martino was traveling Tuesday and could not be reached for comment, according to a lottery spokeswoman.