Louisiana casino revenue flat

Alan Sayre

Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2004 | 9:13 a.m.

NEW ORLEANS -- Despite the addition of two new race track casinos over the past year, the amount of money state-licensed gambling halls won from players was largely flat in December from a year ago.

Louisiana's 14 riverboat casinos, the downtown casino in New Orleans and three slot-machine casinos at race tracks won $166 million in December, up slightly from $165.3 million in December 2002, state police reported Tuesday.

A year ago, there was only one track casino at Delta Downs at Vinton. Last summer, Louisiana Downs at Bossier City opened its casino, while Evangeline Downs opened its slot casino in Opelousas on Dec. 19.

For the partial month, Evangeline Downs won $3.5 million from players. The track has said it expects its chief competition to be Indian reservation casinos in Vinton and Marksville.

The results continue a trend that has been evident for about three years: the addition of new gambling outlets, unlike the early days of casinos in Louisiana during the 1990s, results in smaller and smaller revenue increases with new casinos taking money away from the older competitors.

The sharpest drop in the December-to-December comparison came in the Shreveport-Bossier City market, which recently has faced new competition from a reservation casino in Oklahoma, just across the border from Texas and within driving distance of Dallas-Fort Worth.

A year ago, without the Louisiana Downs casino, the market won $69.3 million. Last month, the market took in $65.5 million from gamblers.

The New Orleans market, which includes Harrah's New Orleans Casino and three riverboats, won $45.6 million in December, almost unchanged from $45.8 million in December 2002.

The Lake Charles market, which has the Delta Downs casino and a pair of two-boat casino complexes won $36.2 million in December, compared with $35.7 million in December 2002.

The two riverboats in Baton Rouge won $15.3 million from gamblers in December, up $14.9 million a year ago.

The figures do not include the three tribal reservation casinos in Louisiana, which are not required to report publicly their winnings.