La. casino revenue down 1.3% over year

Louisiana’s state-licensed casinos came out of the year after the September 2008 financial meltdown not much worse for the wear—at least as far as taking in money from gamblers—and much better off than casinos in many other states. Figures released today by state police show that, from October 2008 through last month, the 13 riverboat casinos, Harrah’s New Orleans casino and the four racetrack casinos took in just under $2.54 billion. That’s only a tad off the $2.57 billion won from gamblers from October 2007 through September 2008. Among the state’s competitive casino markets, Lake Charles saw a 6.3% gain, Shreveport-Bossier City was down 5.3%, New Orleans fell 5.2% and Baton Rouge recorded a drop of 1.8% in the year-to-year comparison. Shreveport-Bossier City and Lake Charles cater to gamblers from Texas. Casino revenue remained largely stable—far above most other casino states, such as New Jersey, Nevada and Mississippi that have seen double-digit drops—during a time when Louisiana’s unemployment rate went from about 5% to nearly 8% and thousands of jobs were lost statewide. The revenue total was in line with that posted by the state during the last three October-through-September periods—around $2.5 billion. “There’s probably more things positive happening in Louisiana gaming now than in most other states,” says Steve Ruggiero, a casino industry analyst for CRT Capital Group.