Detroit -- Combined revenues for the city's three casinos fell by 3.01 percent in March compared with the same month in 2008, according to figures released Monday by the Michigan Gaming Control Board.
The figures showed last month's revenues at MGM Grand Detroit and Greektown casino were down 3.58 percent and 7 percent respectively; MotorCity posted a 0.8 percent gain.
But the Final Four basketball weekend, which ended with the NCAA men's championship game at Ford Field April 6, brought temporary good fortune for MGM and MotorCity: Revenues on that weekend were up 12 percent and 6 percent respectively compared with the prior weekend.
At Greektown Casino-Hotel, the closest gambling venue to the games, revenue dropped 5 percent.
Greektown Casino chief executive Randall Fine attributed the decline to high-spending Greektown regulars who went elsewhere to avoid the downtown crowds.
He likened the situation to day-after-Thanksgiving shoppers trying to hit the least crowded mall.
"You'll go where you can get your shopping done," Fine told the board at its Monday meeting.
The report of falling March revenues came as MGM Grand Detroit confirmed plans to in-source its Immerse Spa operation from Maryland-based WTS International, a spa consultation firm. The accompanying Salon6 operation will be looking for a new home away from the casino.
MGM spokesman Jamaine Dickens said most of the spa's staff of 30 will remain.
"It will be the same employees providing the same services and experience for our guests," Dickens said. "It'll be seamless."
Also at the board meeting:
Fine was appointed by Greektown's three-member management board, which is separate from the tribe's governing board -- an arrangement that came about after its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing last year. At the behest of the casino's creditors, only one representative from the tribe is on the management board.
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