Saturday, May 03, 2008

March Detroit Casino Revenues

Revenues for March 2008 at MGM Grand were up 5.94% over March 2007, to $50.2 million. This compared to decreases of 3.7% at MotorCity Casino compared to March 2007, with March 2008 revenues of $41.3 million. Revenues at at Greektown Casino were down 3.58% to $33.2 million in March 2008.

MGM Grand Revenues Up, Employees Laid Off

In some interesting news which appears to highlight the enormous expectations MGM Grand had for its Detroit location, the casino laid off "under 100" employees between January and early April, 2008, even as its revenues continued to increase.

In fact, revenues for March 2008 at MGM Grand were up 5.94% over March 2007, to $50.2 million. This compared to decreases of 3.7% at MotorCity Casino compared to March 2007, with March 2008 revenues of $41.3 million. Revenues at at Greektown Casino were down 3.58% to $33.2 million in March 2008. Greektown appears to be relegated to third place, even with its new parking structure.

The Las Vegas executives at MGM Grand must have had enormously high expectations for non-gaming revenues from the Detroit property, if revenue increases of 5.94% lead to 100 layoffs. At some point, I will crunch the numbers to see if I am correct on my theory: Although MGM Grand Detroit is first in absolute revenues, I believe it may be last in terms of revenues as a percentage of overall capital investment to open a permanent casino.

The layoffs were identified as coming in the casino's "food and beverage" employee base. This just solidifies for me that MGM Grand vastly overestimated its expected occupancy at the hotel portion of the new casino resort.

Windsor Casino Being Renamed Effective June 19

As of June 19, 2008, the Windsor Casino will be renamed Caesars Windsor. Caesars Windsor will also open a 5,000 seat venue, named the Colosseum.

Scheduled performers at the Colosseum in Summer 2008 include: Billy Joel, Patti LaBelle, Michael Bolton, Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band, Reba McEntire and Donna Summer.

Caesars Windsor will feature a new 369 room hotel tower, the Augustus Tower. The adorably named Augustus Tower will complement the casino's existing 389 hotel rooms, for a total capacity of 758 hotel rooms. It will also feature 100,000 square feet of convention space.