Maryland’s Live Casino Gears Up For Increased Competition In The Region

Maryland’s Live Casino & Hotel is marking its fifth anniversary this year by revamping itself to compete more aggressively against new casinos in the region.

The launch of MGM National Harbor in December 2016 and the Horseshoe Casino Baltimore in 2014 have both impacted the casino gross gaming revenues.

According to latest data from the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency, Maryland Live Casino generated $45.9 million in revenue for May 2017 which was 22.3 percent lower than a year before.

Horseshoe's May revenue was $23.5 million a decline of 18.1 percent, while MGM reported $50.5 million as its monthly revenue.

Cordish Cos is the parent company for Maryland Live and has decided to invest over $200 million to launch a number of initiatives to reclaim its market share. Some of these initiatives include a rebranding exercise, the construction of a new hotel the launch of several new marketing programs.

Maryland Live! Casino

Maryland Live will be rebranded to the Live! Hotel & Casino. While the revenue loss was expected by gaming analysts, some analysts believe that Maryland has enough market share for all six casinos to survive.

In a statement Alan Woinski, president of Gaming USA Corp., an industry publishing house said

I think both MGM and Live can both settle in with their own niche customer. MGM is the more high-end, tourist and table game player while Live has the location and enough traffic near them to remain strong

The property has been working on enhancing its offerings in the past few years like introducing new restaurants, more table games along with installing several hundred slot machines. In recent years, the operator has also sought to make gaming more enjoyable. The Maryland Live! casino has doled out millions of dollars in free play on slot machines and table games as a means to keep high stakes customers interested.

The $200 million expansion includes a luxury hotel that will allow patrons to now stay on the property. The company is also planning to offer some of its hotel rooms as a comp to VIP players. The hotel is first of a chain being built across locations including Philadelphia and Arlington.

University of Maryland professor Stephen McDaniel said that the new hotel will help the company retain spending dollars as it will encourage customers to remain on campus ensuring they spend money on food & beverages, gaming and other amenities like spas or events.