However, the casino’s original slot machine area on the same level as the greyhound track closed a few years ago due to lack of demand. Officials with Wheeling Island did not return calls seeking comment.

This also contrasts strongly with the $199.6 million Wheeling Island grossed from running slot machines alone in fiscal 2007, as table games did not start until fiscal 2008. This is actually a slight increase from the amounts the property drew in the two prior fiscal years, but is about half the $190.3 million the track collected in 2009. Therefore, the fears officials expressed at the time that they would lose substantial business to the out-of-state casinos has come to fruition.įigures provided by the West Virginia Lottery Commission show Wheeling Island collecting about $97.1 million in total gross revenue from slot machines and table gambling - including poker, blackjack, craps, roulette and other live games - for fiscal 2016. None of these Pennsylvania and Ohio casinos existed when Wheeling Island and Mountaineer officials lobbied the West Virginia Legislature to allow table gambling in 2007. Meanwhile, the Hollywood Casino in Columbus, Ohio, grossed $213.5 million in calendar year 2016. grossing more than $230 million at the same time.

To put that in perspective, The Rivers Casino in downtown Pittsburgh grossed $342.7 million by itself in fiscal 2016, with The Meadows Racetrack and Casino near Washington, Pa. In fiscal year 2016, nearly a decade after the roulette wheels started spinning, the two Northern Panhandle tracks totalled only $221 million in gross revenue from both slot machines and table gambling.

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