Detroit casino take pegged at $2 mil. per day

Friday, Feb. 25, 2000 | 11:04 a.m.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DETROIT -- Detroit's two temporary casinos apparently are taking in roughly $2 million a day from gamblers. And an official with the parent company of one of the gambling halls expects it to do even better as the weather warms.

MGM Grand Detroit Casino, which opened last summer, averaged revenues of about $1.1 million a day in the quarter that ended Dec. 31.

By comparison, the local MotorCity Casino on average brought in at least $800,000 a day from its Dec. 14 opening to Jan. 31, the end of the quarter for parent Mandalay Resort Group of Las Vegas.

The revenue for both casinos includes the amount gamblers left behind at tables and slot machines, as well as at the buffet and other restaurants. But analysts say most of the revenue is from gaming.

Across the Detroit River in Ontario, Casino Windsor has not reported any revenue numbers since last fall, when that gambling hall reported an average daily take of $1.6 million.

Last month, a Casino Windsor spokesman said that site had not lost much business after the MotorCity casino opened. Bettors could be spending as much as $3.5 million each day among the three casinos, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Financial information about MotorCity came Wednesday as part of an earnings announcement by Mandalay Resort Group, which owns 53.5 percent of the Detroit casino. The rest is owned by Detroit-area investors who include Marian Ilitch, who also owns Little Caesars Enterprises with her husband, Detroit Tigers and Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch.

MotorCity's operating profit was $7.7 million, lower than what analysts expected, representing an operating margin of 20 percent, the Detroit News reported. By comparison, MGM Grand Detroit earned $33.4 million in the fourth quarter, with a 33-percent margin.

Glenn Schaeffer, Mandalay Resort Group's president and chief financial officer, said he expects MotorCity business to increase going forward into summer.