Detroit’s three commercial casinos saw their 2020 gaming revenue more than halved due to the pandemic, while the state’s online gambling market is now mere days away from launching. 

Figures released Tuesday by the Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) show the city’s three casinos – MGM Resorts’ MGM Grand Detroit, MotorCity Casino and Penn National Gaming’s Greektown – generated combined revenue of $639m last year, down 56% from 2019’s record $1.45b showing. 

MGM posted the biggest annual decline, with its table games and slots revenue falling 58.8% to $257.1m. MotorCity fared only slightly better, slipping 54.9% to $222.7b, while Greektown tumbled 58.3% to $140.6m. 

Legal sports betting had yet to launch in Michigan in 2019, and the three casinos’ retail betting operations added $18.3m to 2020’s total. It’s a pretty meager total, but with no online betting, and the casinos forced to shut for nearly five months mid-year and a second closure that started in November and ended in late-December, it’s as good as one has any right to expect.