With January in the rearview mirror, the states are starting to compile and report revenues. We have a couple of numbers to share starting with Maryland, who cleaned up in the first month of the calendar year.
Maryland Casinos Bring In $153.8 Million During The Month Of January
The COVID-19 pandemic recovery has continued to go smoothly for Maryland as they appear to be through it – at least in the gaming industry. The gambling regulator in the state just announced the revenue numbers that they were able to post throughout the month of January and the returns are quite impressive. The six casinos had been grouped together to haul in approximately $153.76 million in gambling revenue during the month. When compared to January of 2021, that figure is $24.99 million better, which equates to a 19.4 percent increase.
It should be noted that the casinos were operating at lower capacity than normal due to the COVID-19 restrictions that were still around. That could mean that there is still more upside in the coming months as these safety precautions are removed.
MGM National Harbor was the most successful casino of the bunch, bringing in $67 million on its own. Maryland Live! Casino & Hotel was right behind MGM with $54 million in revenues. The Horseshoe Casino was in third on the list but a distant third with $16 million.
Ohio Bring In $171 Million During January On Gambling
Ohio-based casinos just keep on trucking forward and their most recent month was a great one. Regulators put together the total revenue numbers from the state’s casinos and ‘racinos’ throughout the month of January and have announced that these properties brought in $171.2 million from bettors.
This number is actually an all-time high for the month of January. Compared to their numbers from January of 2021, they saw a solid increase, bringing in $153 million at that time and $167.5 million in January of 2020.
Sports betting is also on the way to Ohio at some point in the near future, which will only boost the casino and public ledgers. It was legalized in the state at the end of the 2021 year, so that should be able to improve the casinos revenue numbers even further and help them hit more new all-time highs.
Mask Mandate Lifted In Nevada Casinos
Some COVID-19 restrictions may be hanging around casinos in various parts of the world but Nevada is looking to take one of them away – at least for the time being. The Nevada Gaming Control Board just made a big announcement that all guests won’t be forced to wear a face mask when entering any of their casinos anymore. This new change is effective immediately and goes for all licensed gaming properties – unless there happens to be a local jurisdiction that says otherwise.
This doesn’t mean that all practices to reduce the risk of COVID-19 are going to be completely taken away, though. The board continued their announcement by saying that they will continue other practices to reduce the spread of the virus and keep on updating their regulations as time goes on. This new change comes right after Gov. Sisolak said that the Omicron wave has peaked and is now starting to decline. “We have seen a rapid decline in case of numbers coupled with declining hospitalizations; a drop of COVID-19 detected in wastewater, and a broader availability of testing and available treatments,” said Sisolak.
We could still see the mask mandate come back in the future if other variants continue to pop up and become a problem, but for now, no masks are necessary.
