St. Louis Casinos Down 6.7% To $88m In April

The independent city of St. Louis in the state of Missouri, has released its casino figures for April revealing a 6.7% fall in revenue to $88 million compared to the same month last year.
Each and every one of St. Louis’ six casinos reported a decrease in revenue for the month, lead by the Hollywood Casino St. Louis in Maryland Heights, down 18% to $19.7 million in April. The property was previously called the Harrah’s Casino, but was bought by Penn National Gaming in November 2012 for $610 million. However, monthly revenues have been significantly down this year, although the company is now hoping the $61 million rebranding and modernising funds it has allocated to the casino will help make the Hollywood Casino St. Louis more attractive to gamblers.
Also recording declines in revenue for April was Ameristar St. Charles down 3.8% to $21.5 million; Lumiere Place down 3.4% to $13 million; Argosy Alton, also owned by Penn National Gaming, down 3.2% to $5.9 million; and Casino Queen in East St. Louis down 2.6% to $10.8 million.
In April, the areas newest gambling venue, the Pinnacle Entertainment owned River City Casino in Lemay, repored the smallest decline in revenue of 0.6% at $17 million. The casino opened on March 4, 2010, at a cost of $380 million and has since proved a boon to the struggling Lemay area, which receives around $4 million each year towards Port Authority Community Investment projects.
As Denny Coleman, CEO of the St. Louis County Economic Development Council, explained last year: “It helped us redevelop a contaminated and almost worthless site that was in the flood plain. We’re not trying to change the nature of the community; we are just trying to enhance the quality of life of the community as it exists. If we can do that by making adjustments to the infrastructure, create some new businesses, and provide some low-interest loans for people to fix up their houses, that’s a good thing.”