Casino News: Massachusetts Regulators Look at Poker Complaints, Michigan and Pennsylvania Release Online Gambling Stats

by Cliff Spiller on July 29th 2022.

This week’s casino news takes on a trip around the United States. From revenues in Michigan to poker news in Massachusetts, there have been a number of key headlines to capture.

Michigan Online Casinos Have Strong Month Of June

Online casinos were able to turn in strong revenue numbers in Michigan in the month of June. The Michigan Gaming Control Board announced that they brought in $121.5 million in gross revenue, which is a minor 4.6 percent dip compared to the total they brought in during May. Nonetheless, few are complaining as it was yet another score of over $100 million.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t all positive. Sports betting revenue, both online and retail, dipped 54.2 percent. They went from $33.5 million during May down to $15.4 million during June.

The state also received some extra income when they handed 15 operators licenses to offer online sports betting and casino play. These extra operators were able to reel in $22.8 million in taxes to Michigan.

Massachusetts Gaming Regulators Questioning State Of Poker

Poker is a hot topic in the state of Massachusetts right now. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission is receiving consistent complaints from their players over the lack of card games available. The biggest reason for these complaints is due to both the MGM Springfield and the Encore Boston Harbor, each of whom has decided to reel back on their poker room offerings.

In terms of why they’re doing that, it’s not immediately clear. Regulators plan on getting to the bottom of this situation and their chair Cathy Judd-Stein said that all operators must be prepared to discuss the topic of poker moving forward.

As it stands right now, Massachusetts is home to roughly 30 poker rooms across two casinos. Before the COVID-19 pandemic initially began, there were nearly 100 poker rooms available. On top of that, the working hours for these 30-something rooms have been dramatically decreased.

Pennsylvania Gambling Market Stays The Same During June

Pennsylvania didn’t have a strong month of June when it comes to gambling revenue. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board told everyone that they brought in $389.8 million during June, including all forms of gambling in the state. This number represents an incredibly small increase of 0.24 percent compared to the numbers they brought in during June of 2021.

Slot machines easily led the way for the state in terms of this revenue, which isn’t much of a surprise. They brought in $193 million in gross revenue which is a 5.48 percent increase compared to June of 2021. This was done with a smaller amount of slot machines available to guests as well. In 2021, they had 26,156 machines whereas now they dipped down to 25,823.

Following those slow machines were casino games. Casino games reeled in $102 million themselves compared to the $88 million in June 2021. This represents a 15.76 percent increase from year to year. Table games also put up solid results. They had $76 million to their names during June 2022, but that was still a drop of 1.89 percent in June 2021. Pennsylvania certainly doesn’t want to fall back into the slow results they were having during the ceiling of the COVID-19 pandemic, but these numbers are eerily similar.