January puts chill on revenues at Plainville casino
$5,000 Welcome Bonus
PLAINVILLE — Revenues at Plainridge Park Casino dipped in January, but they were up substantially in 2021 compared to the previous year, officials reported Tuesday.
Revenue was just over $9.8 million for the month, according to financial data released Tuesday by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. That’s the first time gross gaming revenue at the Route 1 casino and racetrack has fallen below $10 million since March, and it was Plainridge’s worst single-month performance since a result of just under $9.6 million in February of 2021
January 2021 revenues were just about the same as last month, just under $9.8 million.
Gross gaming revenue is the difference between what gamblers wager and what they take home.
Statewide, revenue at all three gaming sites — MGM Springfield, Encore Boston Harbor in Everett and Plainridge — was off for January, according to the commission. The three reported combined revenue of $82 million for the month, down from $96 million in December.
It’s not clear what drove the numbers down. Over the five years Plainridge has been open as a slot parlor, revenues have rebounded slightly or at least stayed relatively flat after the holidays were over. However, this year fear of a surge in coronavirus cases and cold and snowy weather — particularly a historic blizzard on the last weekend of the month — may have had an impact on people’s willingness to chance a trip to a gaming site.
Penn National, the Pennsylvania corporation that operates Plainridge, does not comment on the monthly revenue results released by the state.
January’s numbers reverse what had appeared to be a positive trend for Plainridge. The casino had revenues of just over $11 million in gross gaming revenue for December, a slight increase over November’s figure of nearly $10.9 million and a healthy showing compared to last December’s $9.1 million.
Plainridge did have some good news to announce, however. The casino’s revenue for 2021 was $139 million, according to a report by North Grounsel, the casino’s general manager.
In delivering Plainridge’s quarterly financial report to the gaming commission in an online meeting last week, Grounsel pointed out that was a 69% increase over 2020’s figure of $82 million.
That result was not surprising, considering the fact that Plainridge had no earnings for the entire second quarter of the year after it, and other non-essential businesses were shut down for three months due to the pandemic.
But Grounsel also reported that fourth quarter results for 2021 were $33.7 million, compared to $26.8 million for the same period in the previous year, a 29% hike.
The financial report also revealed that out of the $1.4 million the casino spent on goods and services in Massachusetts, $135,221 was spent in Wrentham, $28,520 was spent in Plainville and $20,035 was spent in North Attleboro.
