While the three Detroit casinos have dealt with challenges in recent years from the spread of online gaming and increasingly ubiquitous sports betting, they faced a more internal challenge late in 2023.
When nearly 2,000 employees of the three casinos walked out on strike on Oct. 17 — demanding reduced workloads, wage increases, and the elimination of higher health care costs — the leadership of MGM Grand Detroit, MotorCity Casino, and Hollywood Casino at Greektown had to make adjustments to maintain operations and preserve revenue.
The workers who walked out included dealers, valets, and cleaning crews.
Since the 47-day strike ended in early December, with workers receiving an 18 percent pay raise and the concessions they sought on workloads and health care costs, casino operators and industry observers say there’s no evidence yet that the casinos lost significant numbers of customers because of the strike.
“There’s always an issue of loyalty,” says Jacob Miklojcik, president of Michigan Consultants in Lansing, which works with casinos. “If you lose someone, who’s going to pick them up? If there had been a closure, you might have seen people go to a casino in Mount Pleasant or Battle Creek, and they might have liked it better there. But I haven’t seen that.”
Total adjusted receipts for all three casinos in December were $111.4 million, which represented a massive jump from the strike-impacted month of November, when the casinos pulled in $76 million. By contrast, the equivalent numbers in 2022 showed the casinos were at $99.9 million in November and $108.3 million in December.
“In December, since there was pent-up demand, it was up from the year before,” Miklojcik says.
MGM Grand’s November revenue dropped more than 33 percent in 2023 compared with 2022, while MotorCity’s revenue fell roughly 20 percent and Hollywood declined by 15 percent. Nevertheless, all three casinos finished the year in solid shape, considering the greater impact the strike could have had.
“Closing 2023 on such a high note speaks to how our team members always come together to provide the best-in-class service and entertainment the city of Detroit and southeast Michigan have come to expect from us,” says Matt Buckley, president and COO, Midwest Group, for MGM Resorts International.
Now that the strike is over, the casinos can better re-evaluate their relationship with sports betting. Retail sports betting revenue was down considerably in 2023, with the three casinos bringing in a total of $13.9 million, compared with $18.8 million in 2022.
While high-tech sports bars are designed to attract bettors, the online growth of sports is causing the casinos to elevate their on-site experiences.
At the same time, all three casinos work with online betting platforms. Hollywood’s partner is Barstool Sports, while MotorCity works with FanDuel and MGM Grand keeps it in-house with BetMGM.
“I was a big proponent of sports bars before mobile betting, because that brought new people into the casinos, and spouses and friends who didn’t want to bet on sports could play slots or whatever,” Miklojcik says. “Well, guess what? Now it’s probably easier to make a bet online or go to a kiosk.”
