In Northwest Indiana, an unfavorable calendar is being blamed for a drop in year over year revenues at the state’s five casinos for October.
For the month of October, the five casinos hauled in a total of $76.16 million, according to the revenue report released by the Indiana Gaming Commission (pdf) on November 9. That makes for a 1.7 percent decrease from the $77.66 million reported for October last year.
Commenting on the slight drop in revenue, Vice president and assistant general manager of Horseshoe Hammond Casino, Noah Hirsch, said “I think it’s pretty encouraging,” according to the Chicago Post-Tribune report.
Hirsch reportedly pointed out that in October 2016 there were five Saturdays and Sundays, while in the current calendar year, there were five Sundays and Mondays. Typically, the busiest days at casinos are Fridays and Saturdays.
Also encouraging to Hirsch was the fact that Horseshoe was reportedly one of only two gambling facilities in the area to report an increase in revenue, extending its year over year revenue growth streak to six consecutive months. The other area casino to post a revenue increase was Majestic Star Casino in Gary.
Hirsch said Horseshoe was “up almost 1 percent year to date,” according to the news agency.
The Gary casino is reportedly replacing existing slot machines with hundreds of new machines, including Pure Magic, Lighting Link and Wonder 4 Tall Fortunes, said Hirsch. The machines are some of the more popular ones, many of which Hirsch said have bonus rounds.
Last month, according to the state’s gaming commission, the Caesars Entertainment Corp.–owned casino hauled in $34.49 million compared with $34.47 from the same time last year. Majestic Star reportedly generated revenue totaling $7.33 million this October compared with $7.26 million in October 2016.
The Post-Tribune reports that year over year for the month Ameristar Casino in East Chicago raked in $16.8 million compared with $17.8 million, while Blue Chip Casino managed in $12.81 million compared with $13.13 million and in Gary, Majestic Star II wrangled $4.73 million compared with $5.0 million.
The news agency also reports that in October, Chicago, Illinois-area casinos fared significantly better reporting a 4.1 percent increase in year over year revenues.