By
Mike J. Davies
Editor in Chief at Casinos.US Updated: 08/19/2019
Mike is our Senior Editor and experienced gambling strategist. A former hockey player, he transitioned to the casino industry after finishing his B.A. in English. Blackjack systems, online casino guides, gambling terms, and more – Mike is familiar with all fine points of gambling.
, Photo by Wikimedia, licensed under CC 4.0
In spite of predicting a poor financial performance that has resulted in a potential Chicago gambling house halting progress, a consultant hired by the state estimates that the video gaming terminals at Midway and O’Hare airports could rake in top dollar.
In its much-awaited 50-page feasibility report on the potential of a mega-casino in the city, Union Gaming Analytics forecasts that installing 500 slot machines at two of Chicago’s busy travel hubs could possibly earn as much as $37 million from gambling traffic every year.
Currently, the only airports in the county where travelers can try their luck at slot machines are at Nevada’s two biggest airports:
If Chicago were to install slots at their two busy airports, they would become the third and fourth airports in the country to host gamblers. Plus, the report suggested that the prospects for these gambling positions drawing in a huge revenue is promising and the takings could even possibly out-earn their counterparts in Nevada.
Though Pennsylvania lawmakers legislated in 2018 to permit airport gambling, none of the state’s facilities have acted on this as yet.
However integral to the success of gambling options at Chicago’s airport terminals is that Illinois’ lawmakers must look to change the casino’s exorbitant 72% effective tax rate that is part of their gambling expansion.
The consulting firm determined that the current tax structure is too “onerous” to attract any developers. Out of the forecasted $37million, just $18.5 million would go to the developers, generating more than $12 million for the city’s coffers.
The casino operator would manage the slots at the airport and count them against the 4,000 gaming positions already allocated to them. However, if the casino does not fare well, Union Gaming’s report states that it would not be an issue.
The analysis discovered that that casino wouldn’t require all 4,000 in-house gaming positions to maximize their revenue as the Chicago metro area is already saturated with nine casinos that provide thousands of slots machines in northwest Indiana and the suburbs as well. On the contrary, the analysis found that the total revenue would increase further by installing a few hundred video gaming terminals at both the O’Hare and Midway airports instead.
As with the Nevada airports, video gaming fixtures at the Chicago facilities would operate as an entertainment option for interested customers to pass the time. However with Chicago being a main international hub, slot machines in its airports would actually target a more “captive audience” of gamers in transit, the study found.
According to Union Gaming, the daily average revenue earned from slot machines in Nevada is $151 per machine. Contrasting this figure with the takings from the 240 terminal slots at Reno-Tahoe and the 1,475 slot machines at McCarran, the report found that the revenue from these two airports’ video gaming terminals was “well below” the average.
Reason being that the gamblers who are coming into the Las Vegas are looking for the complete casino experience and might prefer trying their luck at the venues as opposed to at airport terminals. Plus, while residents in the area have more convenient alternatives, those travelers leaving the city have in all likelihood already spent a substantial amount of money gambling.
On the other hand, Chicago’s slot machines, could each earn as much as $200 per day, which would equate to gross revenue of $36.5 million per annum, from 500 slot machines.
Chicago’s mayor, Lori Lightfoot’s take on it is
We haven’t set the parameters yet. But there’s going to be a very, very high hurdle reached before we see any gaming at our airports. We’re not going to turn Chicago into a location that’s unrecognizable from where we are.
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