Editorial: Looking for positives in falling tribal casino revenues

Love ’em or not, Connecticut’s casinos are a fascinating study in politics, history, business and human behavior. Today they’re seeing the previous decade’s gushing revenues contract like an overextended spring in slow motion. And while that clouds state budgets because of reduced funding from the revenue-sharing arrangement, there may be a silver lining.

First the evidence: June’s slot revenue report came in last week and it was another terrible, horrible, very bad day compared to a year ago. Foxwoods’ slot machine “win” (the amount kept after payouts) was down 13.1 percent from June 2013 while Mohegan’s win was down 10.3 percent. (And 2013’s numbers were down from the year before that.)

Because the state gets 25 percent of that, the state’s fiscal year-end take for 2013-14 will be less than $280 million, points out the New London Day. Compare that to 2006-07, when the state’s haul peaked at more than $450 million. Or even 2011-12, at more than $296 million.

That’s a kick in the head for casino and state budget planners. But it’s been a long decline — sparked by the Great Recession and worsened by increased competition from New York and Rhode Island gambling — so the state should be budgeting this revenue more realistically. (We can rely on that, right?)