The $400 million Horseshoe Casino in Cincinnati, Ohio has announced that it will open its doors to the public on March 4, 2013. The casino, which will be operated by Caesars Entertainment, is the fourth and final casino to open in the state, joining the Horseshoe Casino in Cleveland, Hollywood Toledo, and the Hollywood Casino in Columbus. All four casinos were born from a 2009 constitutional amendment.
The two-story, 400,000-square foot casino will employ around 2,000 people and is loaded at the Broadway Commons in the northeast corner of downtown and will carry a host of gaming options, highlighted by 2,000 slot machines, 85 table games, and its very own 31-table World Series of Poker room.
In a statement, Cincinnati mayor Mark Mallory commented on the significant benefits the opening of the casino will have to the city. “Horseshoe Cincinnati is a huge new addition to Downtown”, the mayor said. “It’s putting thousands of Cincinnatians to work and it will open the door for new business development in the surrounding area. The casino opening is an exciting way to kick off 2013 in Cincinnati.”
The last legs of work should be completed next month, paving the way for the casino to open in 80-something days.
Detroit’s casino numbers slump again
The opening of Horseshoe Cincinnati could potentially add woes to Detroit casinos who have already seen their revenues fall 2% compared to the same month last year. It’s not a coincidence that the decline in revenue from Greektown Casino ($26.6 million / down 6.5%) and MGM Grand ($47.8 million / down 2.4%) can be attributed to the opening of Hollywood Casino Toledo, one of the four new casinos in Ohio that’s only an hour drive away from South Detroit. Of the three casinos, only MotorCity Casino reported increased revenues at $38.5 million, up 2.1% from last year’s figures.
Taken as a whole, numbers in the Detroit casinos have dropped in the seven months since Hollywood Casino Toledo opened. The growing number of casinos in the area could have also played a part in having saturated the market to the point where everybody’s going to have to jostle each other to attract the most number of customers. It’s a point echoed by casino expert Alex A. Calderone of Birmingham-based turnaround firm Conway MacKenzie Inc. when he told The Detroit News earlier this week, “What Ohio has taught us is that the market may be pretty close to its saturation point.”
Althought its 4-5 hours away from Detroit, adding Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati to this mix will not only add more competition, but will probably spread out the customer base thinner than what it already is.
PGCB slaps $15,000 fine on Philly casino
Moving over east to Philadelphia, the Sugarhouse Casino has been fined $15,000 by the state gambling regulators for allowing certain patrons to gamble in the casino despite having been banned from entering casinos in the state. The fine was meted down by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board against HSP Gaming LP, the operators of Sugarhouse Casino, for allowing three separate instances when banned patrons were allowed to play table games and slots between the months of May to August of this year.
