MGM reports a $2bn decline in casino revenue in 2020

MGM Resorts International is a hotel, casino and resort company owns many of Vegas’ biggest gambling and entertainment hotspots, including MGM Grand, Bellagio and Luxor. MGM has just released its financial figures for the first half of 2020, revealing that the casinos made 61.1% less than the same period in 2019. 

The reduced revenue is likely due to the unprecedented closure of Las Vegas casinos and resorts as a part of COVID-19 lockdown. From January to June 2019, casino gaming generated $3.22bn (over half of the total $6.40bn generated by the whole business), however in 2020 only $1.22bn was generated, which is a huge hit.

As a whole, MGMs net revenue for the first half of the year was $2.54bn, which still sounds like an awful lot of money, but the company actually reported a net loss of $50.4m overall. If you look at the figures quarterly, things look even worse for the hospitality giant, as the revenue is down 91% overall.

Of course, there’s not a lot any business that relies so heavily on travel, tourism and hospitality can do right now as the ongoing pandemic has cancelled holidays, travel plans and even major sporting events have been cancelled or postponed. As casinos start to open again and parts of the world are returning to normal, how MGMs bottom line will improve is currently unknown.

In the UK, casinos have finally been given the go-ahead to reopen from 1st August, meaning the industry can start contributing to the economy once again. During the lockdown months, the UK gambling industry has taken a bit of a hit, though it seems to be bouncing back.

With some of the biggest and most popular Las Vegas casinos and hotels under its belt, something tells me that MGM are going to be just fine. Even if Trump has to bail the struggling gambling industry out.