Louisiana Casino Revenue Down 3.5% To $224m In March

The Louisiana Gaming Control Board  has released its casino figures for March, revealing a 3.5% decrease in revenue to $224.1 million compared to the $232.2 generated for the same month in 2013.
Breaking the figures down further, Louisiana’s sole land-based casino, Harrah’s New Orleans, reported a 3.2% increase in revenues to $32.6 million; Louisiana’s 14 riverboat casinos generated 4.3% less at $154.4 million, while the four race track slots casinos were down 5.6% to $37 million.
Overall, just two of the southern state’s 19 casinos reported an uptick in revenues year-over-year, namely Harrah’s New Orleans, and the Belle of Baton Rouge up 4.2% to $5.9 million. Overall, however,  the Baton Rouge market saw its revenues drop from $28.8 million last March to $26 million this year, the largest percentage fall among all  Louisiana’s riverboat markets.
Here’s how other markets fared across The Pelican State in March:
New Orleans with its one land-based casino, three riverboats and Fair Grounds racino brought in $62.9 million in March, slightly lower than the $63 million won in March 2013.
Shreveport-Bossier with six riverboats and The Harrah’s Louisiana Downs racino generated 0.2% less revenues at $60.7 million.
Lake Charles with its two riverboat casinos reported a 6.2% decline in revenues to $42.3 million.
Elsewhere, Delta Downs was down by 6.8% to $17.6 million; and finally Evangeline Downs revenues fell by 3.7% to $8.5 million.
Commenting on Louisiana’s March casino figures Louisiana Casino Association executive director, Wade Duty, seemed hard pressed to explain the year-over-year drop, stating; “March is usually a decent month.” Nevertheless, Duty did draw a comparison with Mississippi’s casino market, which also saw its revenues drop to $208.2 million last month from $214.1 million in March 2013.
In fact, one of Mississippi’s casinos, Harrah’s Casino in Tunica, has been held up as an example of the decline being witnessed in America’s gambling industry. The casino has seen its revenues fall from a peak of $1.2 billion in 2006, to just $738 million in 2013. Despite being a comprehensive casino complex, Caesars Entertainment now plans to close Harrah’s Casino on June 2nd, at a loss of 1,300 jobs for the local community.