Plainridge Park Casino in Plainville reports rise in revenue

The Sun Chronicle
 
Plainridge Park Casino in Plainville reports rise in revenue
Wild Casino

PLAINVILLE -- Plainridge Park Casino revenues for July were up slightly over the month before, according to figures released Monday by the state Gaming Commission.

The state’s lone slots-only parlor reported gross gaming revenue of just under $12.5 million last month, an improvement over June’s total of $11.96 million but just behind the $12.9 the casino reported in July 2021.

Gross gaming revenue is the difference between what customers at Plainridge bet and what they take home. It’s similar to profit in other industries.

Altogether, according to the commission report, the state’s three legal gaming venues -- Plainridge, MGM Springfield and Encore Boston Harbor -- generated approximately $99 million in revenue for the month.

Plainridge, a category 2 slots facility, is taxed on 49% of gross gaming revenue. Of that total taxed amount, 82% is paid to local aid and 18% is allotted to the Race Horse Development Fund. MGM Springfield and Encore Boston Harbor, category 1 resort-casinos, are taxed on 25% of GGR; those monies are allocated to several specific state funds under the gaming statute.

Plainridge collected just under $5 million in state taxes for July.

To date, the state has collected approximately $1.155 billion in total taxes and assessments from the three sites since they opened.

Plainridge revenues this year have been fairly stable after a sharp downturn in January to $9.8 million.

But, as gambling is a seasonal activity, month to month comparisons can be tricky.

For the most part, though, gaming revenues at Plainridge have tended to hover between just over $11 million and near $13 million since climbing back from March to July 2020. That's when pandemic regulations shut down the state’s casinos along with other entertainment and those considered by the government to be non-essential industries.

Penn National, the Pennsylvania-based company that has managed Plainridge since it opened as a slots parlor in 2015, does not comment on the monthly revenue reports.