Maryland’s six casinos took in $158.8 million from slots and table games last month, according to new numbers from the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Agency. The November total was up less than one percent from a year ago.
The state and local governments got about $68.5 million from casino operations in November. Most of that money went straight to schools. The Education Trust Fund received $49.4 million. The rest was divided up between local grants for communities that host casinos, money for horse racing, and business programs aimed at small, minority, and women-owned companies.
While Maryland tracks its casino totals each month, gambling has been changing fast in the digital space. Players have been moving toward crypto-friendly platforms, with Ethereum becoming a popular choice for online betting. The cryptocurrency offers quicker payouts and smaller transaction costs than credit cards or bank transfers. (source: https://99bitcoins.com/best-bitcoin-casino/best-ethereum-casinos/)
In Maryland’s market, MGM National Harbor topped the charts again. The Prince George’s County casino reported $69.0 million in November, a jump of more than five percent from the same month last year. The Anne Arundel County property came in second at $57.6 million, though that number dropped about four and a half percent year over year.
The two biggest casinos now control close to 80 percent of Maryland’s total gaming revenue. Both sit near Washington and Baltimore, which gives them access to out-of-state visitors and business travelers. That geography matters when local spending slows down, so these properties can lean on tourists and convention traffic. The smaller casinos around the state don’t have that buffer. They depend on people who live nearby, and they can’t compete for the same crowd.
The Baltimore City property brought in $14.7 million last month. It has had ups and downs this year, but at least the trend looks more stable now. It still faces the same problem all the smaller operations do, with the two largest properties pulling most of the players.
The Cecil County casino reported $6.6 million in November, down more than eight percent compared to last year. The Eastern Shore property did $6.45 million, also lower than last November. The Allegany County resort was one of the few bright spots. It finished the month at $4.37 million, up around five percent.
The numbers look softer when you zoom out. From July through November, the first five months of this fiscal year, Maryland casinos generated about $808.3 million total. That’s down 1.7 percent from the same stretch last year. The state took in $347.7 million during that period, also a small drop.
Casinos still matter for Maryland’s budget, though. The money stays fairly predictable, which helps when the state has to figure out how much it can spend on local programs. But the gambling business is changing. More people bet online now and more people use cryptocurrency. State officials and casino owners are trying to figure out what that means for a market built around physical buildings with slot machines and card tables. Nobody has good answers yet about how to manage an industry that’s moving faster than the rules.
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