Surprisingly, the state of Maryland has a casino gaming war going on its turf. And the winners of the ongoing battle are the patrons of the casinos and, of course, the state government.
Leader of the Pack
MGM Resorts International announced last week that it will be expanding the gaming space of one of its jewels, the MGM National Harbor, located just outside of Washington, D. C. The $48 million expansion to the $1.8 BILLION property is rather odd in that it comes less than two years after its debut on the Maryland gaming scene. One of the beneficiaries of the new expansion will be the casino’s poker room.
As a part of the expansion, the poker room will move to the second floor of the property, with the project set to add some new amenities for patrons. A new off-track horse betting arena, food and beverage options and more slot machines appear to be on tap for the area vacated by the poker room. It is also a reflection of how popular the casino has become, according to its president.
“We never anticipated the volume we’d have at this property,” MGM National Harbor president Melonie Johnson is quoted by the Baltimore Sun. It was poker that drove the move, Johnson admitted, because the demand from players. Waiting lists were jammed with players looking for a game to the point of three hour wait times in some cases, long a point of complaint among the players.
As always, however, the reason for the expansion was the competition from other casino locations in the Old Line State. The other power player in the state, Maryland Live!, had been the big name in the game prior to the arrival of MGM National Harbor. Opened in 2012, Maryland Live! completed a property update last month which saw gaming expansion and a 310-room hotel operation – two more than what MGM National Harbor offered.
Strong Revenues for Maryland Casino Industry
How intense is the competition between these two properties? Prior to the opening of MGM National Harbor, Maryland Live! had a 54% share of the market in Maryland. Once the National Harbor property opened in 2016, however, Maryland Live! saw their total ‘win’ drop to 33%. Overall, however, these numbers aren’t bad for either property.
In the fiscal year 2016, the casino operations in Maryland contributed $510 million in taxes to the state’s coffers. MGM National Harbor has been able to eclipse Maryland Live! for the first place slot on the top casinos in the state, contributing about 40% of the state’s casino revenues. The other five operations in the state lag well behind these two companies.
Another big area of expansion for all the casinos would be into sports betting. After the U. S. Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) in May of this year, Maryland casinos expressed a great deal of interest in opening their businesses for the outlet. Currently, however, the laws would have to be changed in Maryland to allow for the action; under current Maryland law, sports betting of any type is illegal.
Legislators in the state are looking to the next legislative session – in January 2019 – as their chance to change the laws. But many legislators are looking to let the voters decide by passing an amendment to the state’s Constitution. That, however, won’t take place until November 2020 at the earliest.
Another discussion area has been online casino gaming and poker. As with other states, however, this outlet has been pushed aside in favor of passing daily fantasy sports (DFS) legislation and the ongoing question of sports betting. Thus, it isn’t likely that Maryland will be passing any sort of online casino gaming or poker legislation any time soon.
With competition increasing around them from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and others – and the ever-changing landscape of the legal front regarding sports betting and online gaming – the state’s legislatures would be well advised to move soon on these and other subjects. But one area they won’t have to worry about is the welfare of the state’s casino industry and the competition between them.
