MGM Springfield gambling revenue falters under COVID-19 restrictions
SPRINGFIELD – MGM Springfield brought in $17.6 million in gross gaming revenue in September — $1.2 million less than the previous month — for its worst full-month of operation since it opened.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission released updated gross gambling revenue figures Thursday for the state’s three casinos. Together, MGM Springfield, Encore Boston Harbor and Pineridge Park Casino generated $70 million in revenue.
It was the second full month of casino operations after reopening from a state mandated shutdown meant to stop the spread of the coronavirus. MGM Springfield operated at about one-third its usual capacity.
The state’s three casinos recorded about $71 million in gross gaming revenue in August, also under coronavirus restrictions that closed slot machines, poker rooms and mandated fewer people at gaming tables.
Only last week, well into the month of October, did the Gaming Commission allow roulette to resume at MGM Springfield and Encore but without raising occupancy limits.
For MGM Springfield, the month-to-month decline was a 4.6% decrease. The year-over year decrease from the $20.3 million recorded in August of 2019 was 16.9%. As a percentage, let’s less than the percentage of gaming positions MGM has been forced to eliminate.
MGM Springfield laid off 1,000 furloughed employees at the end of August.
Before the pandemic, MGM Springfield had 2,000 employees. In July, it reopened with 800 workers, with plans to call more people in as business ramps back up.
Gross gaming revenues at MGM Springfield also dropped from the $20.9 million in August 2019 to $20.3 in September 2019 indicating a seasonal variability in casino business with the end of summer vacation.
At Encore, gross gaming revenue was $43 million in September down from $42.4 million in August of 2019 and from $49 million in September 2019.
At Plainridge, which only has slots and horse racing, the slot revenue was $10 million in August 2020, down from $10.2 million in August 2020 and from $14.3 million in September 2019.
Gross gambling revenues supplied to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission show that MGM casino has never brought in at the tables and slots what had been promised.
Before MGM Springfield opened in late August 2018, the company told the state and city it would bring in an average of $34.8 million a month in gross gaming revenue from slot machines and table games like poker. Instead, the average over its first 18 full months was $21.5 million. The peak was $26.9 million in September 2018, its first full month of operation.
MGM Springfield brought in $18.46 million in gross gaming revenue in August — a year-over-year drop from $20.97 million in August 2019. The total was the casino’s lowest for a full month of operations since it opened, but it was only about a half-million dollars shy of the previous low of $18.95 million in December 2019 — despite the serious limitations posed by the pandemic.
This week, a University of Massachusetts study showed that, despite troubling performance, MGM Springfield supported $356.9 million in new personal income and $974.2 million in new output within the Massachusetts economy in its first year of operation, according to a University of Massachusetts study released Wednesday.
Of that that $974 million, $640.1 million was value added to the state’s total economy.
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