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Foxwoods Edges Out Mohegan Sun for September

Posted on October 17th, 2010

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The competition in the two titular casino companies is one that has convinced industry analysts and onlookers that, indeed, the success of one casino may mean the decline of the other. Exaxerbating the effects of cuthroat competition is the fact that both casinos are operating in same area, both catering to the same clientele, offering the same services. For the month of September though, it seems that the clear winner is Foxwoods, leaving Mohegan Sun in its trail. The two Native American casino operators, which have gambling facilities in the state of Connecticut, have been in a tight battle for securing the future of their own facility since the start of the economic downturn.

Foxwoods’ gaming complex, which includes the MGM Grand released a report that it received $56.1 million from its slot machines operations in September, which is a 2.1 percent increase over the same month last year. This increase counts as the best year-over-year showing for either of the tribally owned casinos of Connecticut since the month of May in 2008, when MGM Grand at Foxwoods opened, increasing the revenue of the company by 8 percent. This good news would prove to be a bitter pill for Mohegan Sun to swallow, especially since its facility reported $57.6 million for the month of September, which is a year-over-year fall of 3 percent. Foxwoods’ strong performance, according to Robert Victoria, the company’s chief marketing officer, can be attributed to “a very solid marketing calendar during the month, a lot of exciting promotions and great entertainment.”

Robert Victoria also added that Foxwoods has inched closer and closer to the market share lead of Mohegan Sun, which the latter has been dominating for quite some time now. Foxwoods cornered 49. 3 percent of slots in the state, compared to 50.7 percent of Mohegan Sun. Mohegan Sun may still be in the lead, but Foxwoods is definitely closing the gap. Foxwoods reported redemption of free-play coupons or credits totaling more or less $7.6 million for the past month, higher than the $4.6 million redemption figures at Mohegan. The state has created a formula where 25 percent of a portion of those redemptions will be paid by the casinos to the Division of Special Revenue, as well as another 25 percent of their wins from slot machines. That would mean that in terms of contributing to state programs with revenues, Foxwoods also tops Mohegan Sun.Foxwoods $15.1 million contribution is higher than Mohegan Sun’s to $14.8 million.Foxwoods last topped Mohegan Suns in revenue remittance to the state in May 2005.

Asked about free-slots play at Foxwoods for the month of September, Victoria breezily commented, “It was no more (actually less) than we gave away in July and August.Nothing out of the ordinary.”
Free-slots play at Foxwoods was increased to $8.9 million in July and to more than $8 million in August, both figures are substantially higher than the Foxwoods’ figures from June and the previous months.
According to Victoria, one of the company’s promotions may be one of the keys to the success of their slot machines for the month. In the middle of September, the casino launched a promotion called the “Ultimate Dream Point Exchange” where Dream Card holders cashed in their players’ club points for $1 per point rather than 50 cents, which is the norm.

Patrons loved the idea and got in long queues, 14,000 of them taking advantage of the promotion. 12 percent of the said patrons chose to keep the money rather than roll it again to gamble.Victoria said that it may be a high number, but then again, that left the casino 80 plus percent of the patrons who took advantage of the program and took their money and gambled again, contributing to the growth of the slot machine revenue of the casinos. Unfortunately, the plan of the casino to continue the promotion on Saturdays of October was postponed because of technical glitches, according to the website of the casino.Victoria explained, “We didn’t have the systems in place to handle the volume – the parking, staffing.We still have some IT stuff to straighten out, but we’re hoping to do it again. Our target is November.”