Louisiana Casinos Up 14% To $215m In August

The Louisiana Gaming Control Board has released its casino figures for August, revealing a 14% increase in revenue to $215 million compared to the $188 million collected for the same month in 2012. In addition, August’s results represented a $2.5 million improvement over July’s tally.
Breaking the figures down further, the southern state’s only land-based casino, Harrah’s in New Orleans, recorded an impressive 22% leap in revenue to $27.9 million, which was also 10% higher than the $25.4 million collected in July.
Meanwhile, Louisiana’s 14 riverboat casinos generated $153.7 million in August, up 16% from the same month in 2012.
In addition, Louisiana has four slot machine racinos located at horse tracks across the state, and these venues saw their revenues hit $33.5 million in August, an improvement of 4% compared to last year and slightly down on last month.
In terms of market share, the Shreveport area continued to lead the state’s gambling market, generating $61.3 million in revenue; followed by Lake Charles at $45.5 million; New Orleans at $18; and Baton Rouge at $24.3 million.
Despite the US economic downturn, Louisiana casinos have demonstrated strong resilience and in 2012 collected $2.4 billion in revenue, an improvement on the $2.37 billion collected in 2011. Commenting on Louisiana’s overall impressive gaming results, American Gaming Association CEO Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., commented:
“After three years of increasing growth and positive signs in all sectors of the industry, it’s clear that we have weathered the recession.”