Cary Spivak is showing his Potawatomi bias and Milwaukee provincialism again. His story today in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel talks about lower payments from Forest Co. Potawatomi to Milwaukee County and the City of Milwaukee reveals a modest decrease of $160,000 in payments this year vs. 2013. Thats less than a 3% drop. The Journal Sentinel story looked at the case in Illinois where the casinos there have had lower revenues. The article FAILED to take into account the information the Kenosha Project team supplied Cary Spivak on the overall gaming market there: • With the advent of video gaming in Illinois (13,374 new terminals), overall gaming revenues in Illinois rose 10% in 2013, according to figures from the Illinois Gaming Board as reported June 27 by the Chicago Tribune. • Revenue at the 10 casinos in Illinois dropped 5.3% in 2013; $1.55 B in 13 vs $1.64 B in 2012. • Surpassing the Illinois casino losses is revenue from the video gaming terminals installed in thousands of locations, including bars, fraternal organizations, truck stops and Granny casinos. VGT revenue was $300 million in 2013, the first full year of operation since a state law was changed in 2010. Now, lets consider the growth in gaming in Ohio since Hard Rock, Menominees partner for the proposed Kenosha casino, debuted there last December: • Hard Rock continues to lead the state in Slot/VLT revenues with $15.7 Million in July. • The Ohio market grew 57% from $23.097 million in July 2013 to $36.252 million in July 2014. • More than 85% of Hard Rock revenue was new to market revenue - this demonstrates the Ohio market is expanding. Its clear -- despite what Spivak and the Journal want you to believe -- the advent of new gaming options expands the market. If its okay for Forest County Potawatomi to expand their facility by opening an opulent high-rise hotel in Milwaukee, why cant the Menominee and Hard Rock invest in Kenosha?
Posted on: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 19:38:10 +0000
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