Maryland Live! Casino brings in $28 million, 500,000 visitors in first month

Maryland Live, the state’s newest and largest casino, generated $28.5 million in gross revenue in its opening month, providing a boost to a slots program that has lagged behind expectations.

The June haul at the casino at Arundel Mills mall was twice that of Maryland’s two previously opened gaming venues combined.  Nearly half of the state’s slots revenue is earmarked for education programs.

Maryland Lottery Director Stephen Martino said the numbers from Maryland Live, which opened June 6 to overflow crowds and traffic congestion, were “extremely strong.”

“You could tell there was palpable excitement at the facility if you were there on opening night,” said Martino, whose agency regulates Maryland’s slots program, which voters approved in 2008.

Officials from the Cordish Cos., which owns and operated the Anne Arundel County venue, said about 500,000 people visited Maryland Live during its first 24 days.

“The results are right in line with projections,” said Cordish managing partner Joe Weinberg.

The venue – which also features a half-dozen restaurants – opened with nearly 3,200 slot machines.  That number is expected to grow to 4,750 by fall, making Maryland Live! one of the largest casinos in the country by that measure.

It is not likely to become the most lucrative, however. Last month, Resorts World, a new slots casino at the Aqueduct racetrack in New York City, reported $57.5 million in gross gaming revenue in May, tops in the county.

The jump in the bottom line for Maryland’s slots program was offset in part by a nearly 10 percent decline in revenue at Hollywood Casino in Perryville compared with the previous June.

That casino, which has 1,500 slot machines and was the first to open in the state, generated nearly $8 million in revenue this June, down $864,466 from a year ago. Martino and officials at Penn National Gaming, the casino’s owner have said the decline happened as gamblers headed to Maryland Live! instead.

“My guess is that it’s almost all attributable to Maryland Live!,”  Martino said.

Maryland’s other venue, the Casino at Ocean Downs near Ocean City, which has 800 slots, posted $4.4 million in June revenue, up 16 percent from the same month last year.

Two additional casinos – in downtown Baltimore and Western Maryland – are planned.

The numbers for Maryland Live!’s first partial month come as state leaders weigh holding a special legislative session on an expanded gambling plan that would allow one more casino, in Prince George’s County.

Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) and House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) met late Tuesday afternoon about an impasse on that issue.

O’Malley emerged to tell reporters that he is continuing to search for consensus and will make a final call this week about weather a special session next week is realistic.

Both sides of the gambling debate seized on the success of Maryland Live! to bolster their arguments Tuesday.

Proponents of a Prince George’s venue, most likely at National Harbor, said the numbers showed that there is a large enough appetite for gambling to justify another casino.

But Weinberg, the Cordish partner, cautioned that additional competition could undercut the market for Maryland Live!. He said about half the casino’s patrons in June came from the District and its suburbs in Maryland and Virginia.

“It is clear that if we are going to continue to meet the state’s expectations, we have to be able to continue to draw visitors from these areas,” Weinberg said.