Under the sputtering neon and the lavish roofs of Connecticut’s tribal casino giants, the past fiscal year’s curtains drew to a close amid muted fanfare. The Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods, those behemoths of bling and chance, have watched their gaming revenue streams not swell, but constrict. Their renowned halls, filled with the siren songs of slot machines and the adrenaline-laced buzz of table games, have echoed a bit emptier, despite the clattering coins and shuffled cards.
The Mohegan Sun, located in the pulsing heart of Uncasville, unfurled financial records that showed a dip in their gross gaming revenue to $598.96 million. This marked a sobering 5.15% drop compared to the bolder numbers of yesteryear. The Foxwoods, standing with stoic grace in Ledyard, similarly notched a decline—a sliding sweep of 1.2% to $515.54 million. And while players seemed scarcer, the ancestral grounds felt the changing winds.
As they contend with this ebbing tide in physical play, the twin titans flexed their digital muscles. Their electric counterparts—those lively iGaming platforms bounding through cyber space—became makeshift lifeboats in this shifting sea. With the legality of such online ventures now etched in Connecticut’s books, the click and clatter of games found sanctuary in pixels and code.
Yet, it wasn’t all a digital dance for spots of light. The realms of culinary delights, the nestling comfort of hotel rooms, and the dazzle of retail and entertainment threw ladders to the revenue walls. Mohegan Sun glimmered with an 8% climb in food and beverage, hungry for $97.7 million, and saw hotel bookings inch up to $95 million. The Foxwoods too saw their non-gaming fountains bubble modestly up, with food and drink earnings boasting a hearty 11% hike.
The fiscal narrative, one of sums and subtraction, spoke of an ending balance for Mohegan Sun that was shy of their last year’s bounty by some $20 million. And while their EBITDA—essentially their financial pulse—thumped at $258.2 million, it had lost the rhythm of the previous year’s 8.4% surge.
Within the Foxwoods’ ledgers, the story was akin, though not identical. Despite revenue from non-gaming highs, the relentless march of operating costs and the gnawing teeth of inflation gnawed a 16% chunk from their EBITDA, leaving it at $110.7 million.
But hope flourished in electronic form. The virtual realms of their iGaming domains swelled with over $295.2 million. Bets placed from afar on DraftKings and FanDuel, their sportsbook sentinels, harvested an additional $85.6 million. Together, they muster a considerable $380.8 million internet GGR, and the spell has yet to break; December’s digits are still whispering in the wings.
In the end, under the still glowing sky of Uncasville and Ledyard, the storied keepers of games and fortune, stood not defeated, but merely poised. Their eyes fixed firmly on the horizon where the lights of tomorrow—infused with technology and ever-adapting spirit—promised to shine bright once more.
