Connecticut’s two casinos — Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun — both saw revenue slump in August to their lowest revenues for that month in a decade.
The numbers released Wednesday by the state Department of Revenue, one day after Mohegan Sun announced the first layoffs in its history and on the same day Foxwoods unveiled its latest effort to increase its non-gaming revenues.
It’s all set against the backdrop of next week’s casino gaming summit at Mohegan Sun, where ways to counter increased competition in the Northeast will be discussed.
Hopes for a Connecticut casino rebound were buoyed in July when Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun posted gains over the previous July, their first month-over-month increase in more than year.
Those numbers appear to be more of an aberration in the trend of decreasing revenues since the mid-2000s, as the numbers for July 2010 were increased because the month had a fifth Saturday of business.
Foxwoods total win for August was $59.2 million, down 6.3 percent from August 2009. It’s the worst August for Foxwoods since 1995 when the casino had 3,000 fewer slot machines.
“Our August results are a reflection of prolonged economic conditions and the challenges they present to our, and just about every other, business,” said William Sherlock, president of Mashantucket Pequot Gaming Enterprises, in a statement.
Mohegan’s total win for August was $67 million, down 2.8 percent from August 2009. It’s the worst August for Mohegan since 2001, when the casino had 3,000 fewer slot machines.
The total contributions to the state were $17.3 million for Mohegan and $16 million for Foxwoods.
On Tuesday, Mohegan announced the elimination of 475 positions, which will equate to 355 employees losing their jobs. It was the first round of layoffs for the casino, which decreased its 10,000 strong workforce through attrition to 9,000 before Tuesday’s layoffs.
On Wednesday, Foxwoods will unveil its high-end bowling alley, High Rollers. The opening of the property, along with the comedy club Comix coming in October, is a move by Foxwoods to increase its non-gaming revenues. Industry experts – many of whom will be at Tuesday’s gaming summit – have said non-gaming revenue is an important advantage Connecticut’s resort casinos have over competition in surrounding states.
Although the August revenue drop was a setback, the year-over-year decline was smaller than in previous Augusts, possibly signaling a leveling off of the revenue decreases. For August 2010, Mohegan had a 1.2 percent increase in its total gaming handle over 2009, although its percentage win of that handle was smaller.
