Maryland casinos brought in less revenue in August as the fight heats up over the state’s proposed gambling expansion.
Revenue fell roughly $3.5 million from July, when monthly gambling revenues reached $48.1 million, a record high, according to the Maryland Lottery.
Casinos once projected to draw $660 million annually have brought in $390 million since Maryland’s first casino, Hollywood Casino Perryville, came online in September 2010.
Maryland Live!, the state’s newest and largest casino, at Arundel Mills mall in Anne Arundel County, has earned much of that money since opening in June.
As of Aug. 31, the Cordish Cos.’ casino had brought in $96.3 million this year, including $32.4 million in August. Revenues were down roughly $3 million from Maryland Live!’s high of $35.4 million in July, the casino’s first full month in operation
Hollywood Casino Perryville, owned by Penn National Gaming Inc., continued to lose revenue since Maryland Live!’s opening, bringing in $6.5 million. The Casino at Ocean Downs, near Ocean City, brought in $5.7 million.
Casino developers and operators with millions of dollars at stake in Maryland’s plans to expand gambling — measures would allow a Prince George’s County casino, authorize table games such as blackjack and roulette, and give the casinos a bigger slice of gambling revenues — have already invested millions of dollars in television ads touting the pros and cons of the expanded gambling.
Penn National Gaming Inc. has pumped $5.5 million into a committee called Get the Facts – Vote No On 7, which released a new ad on Thursday attacking claims by the pro-gambling group For Maryland Jobs and Schools.
The ad also casts doubt on a new casino’s ability to raise revenues for the state’s Education Trust Fund — state budget analysts estimate the plan would bring in $199 million annually for schools by fiscal 2019.
“The facts on Question 7 deserve reiterating — there is no guarantee of increased education aid or good-paying jobs for our state’s residents,” said Jacqueline Goodall, the committee’s chairwoman and mayor of Forest Heights.
For Maryland Jobs and Schools, funded by MGM Resorts International, which hopes to build a casino at National Harbor, released a competing ad Wednesday claiming Penn National has another interest in opposing the gambling plan.
In addition to owning the Perryville casino, Penn National owns a West Virginia casino that could lose business to a gambling site at National Harbor, many lawmakers’ preferred destination for a Prince George’s casino.
MGM has funneled $2.4 million into its advocacy group.
