Private companies keep Ohio racinos alive
An expert said that if Ohio racinos weren’t owned by private companies, they would likely file for bankruptcy.
US.- Head of Gaming and Travel Investment Banking at KeyBanc Capital Markets in Cleveland Jay Masurekar said that Ohio casinos and racinos are still fully functioning because they’re owned by large companies.
According to news outlet Cleveland, the executive said that even though there’s not much information about the state’s seven racinos and four casinos, he’s certain that some of them only continue their operations because they’re privately owned. “If they stood alone they would have shut down by now or filed for bankruptcy,” he said. “Ohio has been doing pretty well but I don’t think it requires 11 properties. One or two may drop off at some point – there will be winners and losers in any market.”
“Really nothing has materially changed in terms of the demographic profile who is visiting our properties. It’s still 60 percent of our revenues come from customers between the ages of early 50s to early 70s, the heart of the baby boomers and that hasn’t changed much,” he added. The banker commented that Las Vegas has a much younger demographic therefore the entertainment options are wider. “But in the regional side it hasn’t changed. And as we look at our focus over the next, say, five years to ten years, I’m of the belief that focusing in on millennials is not going to produce good economic results,” he concluded.
