2026-07-16 21:22:02 MGM gambling soars, record year for Maryland gambling – NEW WTOP Skip to main content

MGM gambling soars, record year for Maryland gambling

By Jeff Clabaugh

WASHINGTON — MGM National Harbor Casino is still packing the gamblers in, and last month accounted for 42 percent of gaming revenue from all six Maryland casinos.

For the state’s fiscal 2018 year, Maryland’s casinos generated a total of $1.679 billion, a fiscal year record.

The six casinos logged July gaming revenue of $139 million, up 5.6 percent from July 2017.

Maryland gets about $61 million of that, the majority of which goes to the state’s Education Trust Fund. Casinos contributed $496.7 million to the Education Trust Fund in fiscal 2018.

Even with the year-over-year gain, Maryland casino revenue has now declined for two straight months after hitting a record high $156.5 million in May.

MGM National Harbor’s July gaming revenue totaled $58.3 million, a 14.9 percent jump from a year earlier. Its closest competitor, Live! Casino & Hotel at Arundel Mills, had $47.7 million in July gaming revenue, up 1 percent from a year ago.

Baltimore’s Horseshoe Casino saw its July gaming revenue fall 11.1 percent to $20.5 million.

Results were mixed for Maryland’s three smaller casinos.

Hollywood Casino Perryville had $6.1 million in July gaming revenue, down 6.7 percent. Ocean Downs Casino had $8.7 million in gaming revenue, a 34 percent jump from a year ago. Rocky Gap Casino Resort had $5.2 million in July gaming revenue, up 1.5 percent from a year ago.

Maryland Lottery and Gaming posts monthly and year-to-date distributions of the state’s share of casino revenue online each month.

Maryland’s six casinos now employ more than 7,700, more than 6,200 of which are full-time jobs.

Massachusetts court hears arguments in lawsuit alleging Meta designed apps to be addictive to kids

By The Associated Press
BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts' highest court heard oral arguments Friday in the state's lawsuit arguing that Meta designed features on Facebook and Instagram to make them addictive to young users. The lawsuit, filed in 2023 by Attorney General Andrea Campbell, alleges that Meta did this to make a profit and that its actions affected hundreds of thousands of teenagers in Massachusetts who use the social media platforms. “We are making claims based only on the tools that Meta has developed because its own research shows they encourage addiction to the platform in a variety of ways,” said State Solicitor David Kravitz, adding that the state's claim has nothing to do the company's algorithms or failure to moderate content. Meta said Friday that it strongly disagrees with the allegations and is “confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people.” Its attorney, Mark Mosier, argued in court that the lawsuit “would impose liabilities for performing traditional publishing functions” and that its actions are protected by the First Amendment.
Read Next Story

Related News

What to know about the clash between the Pentagon and Anthropic over military’s AI use

US wholesale prices arrive hotter than expected, up 0.5% from December and 2.9% from a year ago

US moves to legally control tanker and 2M barrels of oil seized off Venezuela’s coast in December