The end of 2016 would see a decrease in gaming revenues for casinos located in Northwest Indiana, especially after the month of December proved to be quite difficult. On Tuesday, the Indiana Gaming Commission published the figures for revenues in December which showed an 11.6% decrease from the previous year. With only $73.3 million, the region saw a decrease for the month as well as finished the full year with 2.7% less than in 2015.

The total win for Northwest Indiana casinos was $946 million for the year 2016. In 2015, the region earned $972.6 million. According to an official of the Horseshoe Casino of Hammond, the issue for December was weather. Steven Cox, Vice President of Finance for the venue, stated that two snowy as well as icy weekends hurt revenues. Christmas Eve taking place over the weekend also slowed things down.

When looking at monthly totals, several casinos saw a downturn when compared to 2015. The Blue Chip Casino of Michigan City, Majestic Star in Gary and the Ameristar of East Chicago all saw a significant decline in earnings when looking at 2016 compared to 2015.

The Horseshoe is the largest casino of the state and despite its size, was able to earn only $31.8 million in December. This is more than 12% less than the previous year. The Ameristar was up from November but was down for the month of December by just over 11%. The casino’s overall win was down to $17.8 million.

The Majestic Star was able to earn $11.7 million, decreasing by 8.3%. For the Blue Chip, $12 million was earned with a decrease of 11.8%. The decline in revenues was reflected by the lower number of visitors to the casinos. For December, only 744,732 individuals came through casino doors which is more than 13% less than 2015.

As far as taxes are concerned, the casinos of Northwest Indiana paid in $21.5 million for admission and wagering taxes for the month. This was less than the $24.7 million paid in 2015.