Worse, it was having trouble paying off its creditors. Dover Downs, Kent County’s largest private employer with 1,375 jobs, lost $1 million in 2017 and continued to lose money in early 2018.
Meanwhile, the company is barely treading water. “We look at it as a way to get people in.” “We don’t look at it as a huge revenue driver,” said John Hensley, general manager and senior director of racing and sports betting at Dover Downs. While sports wagering is off to a fast start and projected to create a $20 million market in Delaware by 2020, its revenue is split several ways and unlikely to reverse the pressures on Dover Downs. The same regional competition that’s bedeviled this 500-room hotel, casino and racetrack in recent years will test Delaware’s three casinos’ early lead in sports betting. Though Dover Downs Hotel & Casino was among the first movers into sports betting outside of Nevada, they may not have the last word.
