Detroit casino industry faces Ohio threat

Analysts say casinos opening in Ohio this month could hurt Detroit's casino industry. About 15 percent of Detroit's general fund revenue comes from casino taxes, the Detroit Free Press reported. A recent analysis by McKinsey & Co., a global management consulting firm, predicted that when Ohio opens its four new casinos this year, two of which open for business this month, Detroit will stand to lose up to $30 million a year in casino tax revenues by 2015. Currently, MGM Grand Detroit, MotorCity Casino Hotel and Greektown Casino-Hotel get more than 80 percent of their revenue from visitors coming from within 150 miles of the city, including northern and central Ohio. Once the casinos in Toledo and Cleveland open, "Detroit's casinos will no longer be the obvious gaming choice for day-trippers," the McKinsey report said. Bettie Buss, a former city budget analyst who now follows Detroit's economic problems for the non-profit Citizens Research Council of Michigan, said city officials know Detroit's casino revenue is going to take a hit from the competition in Ohio, but how much is hard to say. "The pressure is to underestimate the loss to minimize the reductions you're going to have to make," Buss said Thursday. "It's hard to cut. Nobody can argue that city services are even adequate, so how do you keep cutting from already inadequate city services? It's a really tough challenge."