Ticker: Casinos haul in nearly $100 Million in July; Consumer debt hits pre-pandemic high

Boston Herald
 
Ticker: Casinos haul in nearly $100 Million in July; Consumer debt hits pre-pandemic high
Wild Casino

The state’s three casinos raked in nearly $100 million in gross gaming revenue last month with more than $27.6 million bound for the state’s coffers, the Gaming Commission announced Monday.

Of the $99 million that Plainridge Park Casino, MGM Springfield and Encore Boston Harbor counted as gaming revenue in July, the lion’s share came from Encore. The Everett casino took in $64.7 million — a little more than $35 million from slot machines and $29.67 million from table games. MGM Springfield, the only other full-scale casino in the state, reported July revenue of $21.5 million. More than $17.27 million of that came from slot machines in Springfield.

Encore’s monthly revenue translates into just more than $16.18 million in taxes and fees for the state, while MGM’s monthly gaming revenue means about $5.39 million for the state’s coffers.

Consumer debt hits pre-pandemic high

Consumers continue to take on more credit card debt as inflation hikes up their spending.

Consumer revolving debt — which is mostly based on credit card balances — gained $14.8 billion on a seasonally adjusted basis in June. It’s now up to $1.125 trillion, taking it past its pre-pandemic high, according to the Fed’s G. 19 consumer credit report.

For June, inflation rose 9.1% over the year (and 1.3% from May levels), which means consumers had to shell out more money to buy goods.

In June, card balances rose a healthy 16% on an annualized basis, following May’s 7.8% (revised) gain and April’s robust 19.6% jump.

Total consumer debt — which includes student and auto loans, as well as revolving debt — gained $40.1 billion to touch $4.627 trillion in June. That’s a 10.5% seasonally adjusted annualized increase.