Gaming briefs for July 21, 2004

Wednesday, July 21, 2004 | 10:50 a.m.

Annual gambling take increases

NEW ORLEANS -- Gamblers lost $2.1 billion at Louisiana's state-licensed casinos during the state's last fiscal year, an increase of about 5 percent fueled by growth at the downtown New Orleans casino and at slot-machine casinos at race tracks.

During the 2003-04 fiscal year that ended June 30, gamblers lost $2 billion.

Harrah's New Orleans Casino won $300.3 million for the 2003-04 fiscal ending June 30, compared with $277.3 million the previous year.

Track casinos won $232.7 million, compared with $134.6 million the year before. However, only the Delta Downs casino at Vinton was open during the full year in 2002-03. Louisiana Downs at Bossier City opened its casino in May 2003, while Evangeline Downs opened its gambling hall at Opelousas -- the site of its new track -- in December 2003.

The state's 14 riverboats won $1.57 billion from gamblers in 2003-04, a slight drop from the $1.6 billion won in 2002-03, state police reported Tuesday.

Advocates sue for poker money

SALEM, Ore. -- Advocates for schools and state parks filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking to overturn what they say are the Oregon Lottery's overly generous payouts to bars and taverns with video poker machines.

The lawsuit said schools and other programs that receive lottery dollars are being shortchanged because of the lottery's compensation plan, which pays the average video poker retailer $67,000 a year.

"That amounts to a giveaway of tens of millions of public dollars that should be used to reduce class sizes, recruit and retain highly qualified education staff, and help maintain Oregon's natural resources," said Merlene Martin of the Oregon School Employees Association.

Lottery Director Brenda Rocklin declined to comment on the lawsuit Tuesday, although in March she called the contract with the lottery retailers a "fair deal for the state and for the retailers."