While Horseshoe Casino Baltimore has cut into Maryland Live’s overall market share, the Hanover casino is still seeing its profits rise, reaching $54.6 million that month. “I think if the leadership of MGM was only anticipating making revenue … through Maryland (customers), it wouldn’t be enough to justify investing that massive amount.”Īnd while nationwide gambling revenue numbers have either stagnated or dropped over the last few years, Maryland has largely bucked the trend.Īs recently as March, the state’s overall casino revenue was the second-highest in its short history, reaching nearly $98 million overall.

“It has a greater potential than any of the other sites to be a resort destination,” Karmel said. It will also benefit from the nearby Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, which has 2,000 guest rooms. Sitting on the Potomac River, the $1.2 billion investment by MGM includes a 23-story hotel with 308 rooms and suites.

“The reason why we’re investing to the degree we are - it’s clearly far more money than anybody has ever invested in a regional casino - is because we don’t believe it is a regional casino,” James Murren, MGM’s chairman and CEO, said last year in D.C.

Calls to the company were not returned.Īdditionally, calls for comment from Maryland Live representatives about concerns over their profitability were not returned.īut there are reasons for optimism, said James Karmel, a casino analyst and professor at Harford Community College.įor one, the top executive of MGM Resorts International has said it looks to differentiate the National Harbor casino by focusing on making it a “destination” resort. MGM officials have not commented on an official opening date, saying only that the casino would open this summer.

“We have a tax revenue cap … that additional money has been very important to the county,” she said. Capital Gazette eNewspaper Home Page Close Menuīeidle’s main concern is that, if Maryland Live were to lose it’s profitability, Anne Arundel would lose the tax benefits as a result.

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