Earnings decline at city casinos

Thursday, Jan. 16, 2003 | 9:46 a.m.

DETROIT -- Revenues at the city's three casinos increased 12 percent to $1.12 billion in 2002, but business fell off sharply at year's end.

Total income at the MGM Grand Detroit, MotorCity and Greektown casinos slipped 3 percent in December from year-earlier levels. It was the third consecutive month of declining revenues, and the steepest monthly drop since the industry arrived in Detroit in 1999.

One executive said the market might not rebound until 2006, when the casinos are to open hotels, add conference space and offer more gambling options.

"Right now, with the properties we have, it's just flattened out," Rhonda Cohen, MotorCity Casino's general manager, told The Detroit News for a Thursday story. "I think we've tapped the market" until more opulent casinos arrive.

Industry officials assume that gamblers staying overnight usually bet double the amount they would have spent in just one day, the newspaper said.

The Detroit casinos' 2001 revenues -- defined as income kept after paying winnings to gamblers, but before taxes and operating costs -- slightly exceeded $1 billion.