When major weather events occur along the coastline of the United States, people prepare. In Louisiana, the common weather threat is hurricanes. Just a few days ago, the state was hammered by Hurricane Ida, and it resulted in power outages in several areas, with thousands remaining in the dark. For casinos in the state, venues shut down in preparation for the storm and are still closed.

An analyst is predicting that due to the hurricane, the casinos will see a double-digit decline in revenues. According to Las Vegas Review-Journal, the New York office of the Deutsche Bank has predicted the decline. Carlo Santarelli says that gross gaming revenues should drop around 19%.

More Details of the Analysis

Hurricane Ida did a lot of damage once she made landfall, especially when it comes to power outages. Most of the state lost power and thousands are still without it. The hurricane made landfall on August 29 and continues to see issues today.

According to Santarelli, the 19% decline is based on daily visitor spend. If the amount in August was close to the 33.2% two-year increase from July, then gross gaming revenues would drop 19% based on the closures.

Many Casinos Remain Closed

Because of the power outages and storm damage, many casinos in the state have been unable to open back up. Venues near New Orleans are not operational, and this includes the largest casino in the market.

Caesars Entertainment announced last week all of its properties on the coast are closed. This includes Harrah’s Gulf Coast in Mississippi, the New Orleans casino, and the Belle of Baton Rouge. The casinos shut down over the weekend before the storm made landfall to ensure employees could get home and prep as well as stay safe.

There is no set time as to when the Harrah’s New Orleans casino will reopen. A spokesperson for Caesars said that the casino is working with local emergency services to get back on track and are providing support for team members who were affected by the hurricane.

Other gaming companies were affected by the storm in the region including Penn National and Boyd Gaming. Penn National operates two casinos in Mississippi, the Boomtown Biloxi, and the Hollywood Gulf Coast. These casinos are operational, having opened on August 31. Boyd Gaming operates the Treasure Chest in Kenner and it remains closed right now with no date set on when the venue will get back to work.