Hartford Business Journal

But they still face ongoing challenges, including the threat of future COVID variants, the falloff in global tourism and other consequences of the war in Ukraine, as well as the impact of high inflation, particularly rising gas prices, on consumer spending. "There's definitely a lot of uncertainty," said Jason Guyot, chief executive officer at Foxwoods. Given these realities, the casinos' southeastern Connecticut locations offer a big advantage as more people staycation and choose a local resort as a getaway over destinations that require flights or long road trips. "We're in a densely-populated region," said Jeff Hamilton, president and general manager at Mohegan Sun. "We're already seeing the trends in the market, people deciding to do something local as opposed to flying, for cost-related or other reasons." Sports betting, iGaming boost Though the pandemic has been an unprecedented crisis for both casinos, their business rebounded in 2021 as mandatory operational, capacity and travel restrictions were lifted and despite infection waves. Both operations implemented many safety and mitigation measures, as dictated by the state, federal health agencies and even their respective medical advisors. One benchmark, their combined total slot machine revenues, was $866 million last year, about a third higher than 2020 revenues, though still below $982 million earned in 2019 before the pandemic hit. (The state collected $216.5 million in 2021 from the tribal slots.) In comparison, last year was the best ever for the U.S. commercial casino industry, which earned $53 billion in revenues, up about 21% over the year before. Almost $45 billion was earned at traditional brick-and-mortar locations, though sports betting and iGaming revenue leapt 158% from 2020 and now accounts for about 15% of total annual revenues. Tribal casinos report revenues 10 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | May 9, 2022 Patrons play the slots at the Great Cedar Casino within Foxwoods Resort Casino. Casino slot revenues were up significantly in 2021 compared to a year earlier. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED CT casinos face choppy recovery as pandemic fears wane 0 $10,000,000 $20,000,000 $30,000,000 $40,000,000 $50,000,000 $60,000,000 $70,000,000 $80,000,000 October 2021 November 2021 December 2021 January 2022 February 2022 March 2022 Mashantucket Pequot CT Lottery Corp Mohegan Digital, LLC Jason Guyot Jeff Hamilton ONLINE SPORTS BETTING WAGERS IN CT By Linda Keslar Hartford Business Journal Contributor F ollowing last winter's omicron surge, Connecticut's two tribal casinos are showing signs of a recovery, but the bounce back from the global pandemic has been choppy, and will likely continue to be with other emerging issues creating headaches. Foxwoods Resort Casino, owned and operated by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, reported gross slot gaming revenue of $30.4 million in March, up 2.4% from a year earlier. Just down the road in Uncasville, Mohegan Sun, owned and operated by the Mohegan Tribe, reported gross gaming revenue of $44.7 million for the month, a 2.8% gain over the same period last year. The state receives 25% of the slot hold, with the tribes retaining all of their table game revenue, which isn't publicly disclosed. Total slot wins by both casinos for February, in comparison, were 24% higher than the year before, while January figures fell significantly short of the same period in 2020, right before the pandemic reached Connecticut's shores in full force. Year-over-year comparisons remain complicated by the ebbs and flows of infection surges with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Officials from both casinos said that as infection fears lessen in the pandemic's third year, there's reason for optimism. Source: CT Dept. of Consumer Protection

• Cover