‘Memba when Dover Downs’ Denis McGlynn told anyone who would listen that sports betting wouldn’t make his racino profitable? According to this new Matt Bittle story quoting Captain Poormouth in the State News, Dover Downs cleared $666,000 last year on sports betting. Not coincidentally, its profits leaped in the year’s fourth quarter — football season.
More importantly to McGlynn, and probably to the state, DD’s sale is on track to finalize shortly. As has been noted many times, if present management couldn’t turn a profit, surely other operations would like the chance to get into Delaware’s closed casino market. It turns out all McGlynn’s whining about unprofitability were aimed at winning concessions to make that inevitable sale more profitable for Denis McGlynn and other major stockholders — probably unnecessary considering Twin Rivers is buying in for the access to sports betting.