Casino Take Homes in Detroit Approach $1Billion

After a nearly three-year downward slip, Detroit is finally bouncing back this year. So far, the city’s casinos have made a combined $934 million off gamblers. The figures have been released by the Michigan Gaming Control Board.

By the end of 2016, this amount is expected to reach and cross the $1 billion mark. The recovery while welcome, shows the market’s inherent unpredictability. Last year was the third straight year of losses for Detroit, which according to estimates is a 16% drop since 2001. That accounts for the recession and the subsequent market recovery. Detroit casinos make most of their money through slot machines. While Nevada makes about 60% of their earnings through slots, Detroit makes 80%. They are almost completely dependent on slots.

The three major casinos in Detroit made a combined $115.9 million last month. That is a year over year growth of $8.5 million when compared to August 2015. The MGM Detroit is this year’s biggest winner so far, raking in $397 million in revenue. Motorcity comes in second this year with earnings till August reaching just about $317 million. The Greektown came in third with gambling revenues posted at $220 million. Same time last year, the revenues of Detroit were at $922 million combined. 2015 ended on a high for casinos in Detroit. They posted a combined $1.37 billion and ended a three-year straight slump. The downward slope first started in 2011 where the year ended with a revenue of $1.42 billion. After the spiral was made public it was feared that one of the three might even shut down as it might not have survived a four year slump. Their fortunes have since reversed and the last two years have been profitable; talks of shutting down have been shut down.