Aqueduct’s racino brought in more money in the two short months since it opened at the Queens racetrack than five upstate outfits each banked all last year. The virtual casino netted nearly $90 million in revenue between Oct. 28 and Dec. 31. Click below to read the rest of the story.
Of the eight other racinos operating in New York, only those in Yonkers, Saratoga and the Finger Lakes did better — but they were open all year long.
“Their opening numbers are just really impressive,†an admiring official from a competing racino said of Aqueduct.
“I’m sure some of that is the curiosity and wow factor.â€
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver noted that Aqueduct has many more video slots and table games than the state’s other racinos and benefits from the city’s 8.3 million population.
“The upstate facilities have a more limited market,†Silver said.
Even so, every racino showed an increase last year.
In all, the combined racino revenue was $1.26 billion, up 15.8% from 2010.
The upswing comes as Gov. Cuomo pushes a constitutional amendment to legalize full-blown casino gambling in New York.
Silver and Cuomo, who last week proposed a megaconvention center at the Aqueduct site, have both said they are open to a New York City casino located at a place like Aqueduct.
Genting New York, which runs the Aqueduct racino and would spend $4 billion to build the convention center, wants exclusive casino rights in the area, The News reported last week.
The overall success of the racinos helped the state Lottery rebound from a down year in 2010.
When racinos are factored in, Lottery sales hit $8.1 billion, up 3.9%. Non-racino lottery sales totaled $6.8 billion last year, a 2% jump from 2010, a year that saw sales drop for the first time by 1.4%, Lottery stats show.
Among traditional Lottery games, the instant scratchoffs are still king, even if sales are softening. New Yorkers spent $3.5 billion last year on instant games, down 2% from 2010.
But the losses were more than made up for by the popularity of big jackpot games like Mega Millions and Powerball. Players spent $418 million on Mega Millions last year, a 1.6% increase from 2010. Powerball profits climbed to $258 million, up 39.4% in its second year in New York.
Even games that have been losing money in recent years rebounded. The venerable Lotto, which had been shedding players over the past decade, may have finally bottomed out.
Lotto sales last year totaled $128.5 million, down 4.6%, the smallest decline in years. In 2010, sales had dropped by more than 20%.
