Louisiana casino revenues mostly up from Nov. 2012

State-licensed casinos in Louisiana won $206.5 million from gamblers in November, up $13.6 million from a year earlier.
Winnings were up from November 2012 in the Shreveport-Bossier City, Lake Charles, Baton Rouge and Morgan City markets. In the New Orleans and Opelousas markets, they were almost even – down, but by less than 1 percentage point, according to figures released Thursday.
Riverboat and land casino winnings were both up nearly 9 percent over the previous year, while race track winnings were down about 1 percent.
The riverboats took in $144.1 million, up from $132.7 million in November 2012; the land casino’s take went from $28.5 million to $31 million, and the race track slots casinos were down $364,800 to $31.4 million.
The Lake Charles market had the largest one-year increase: 13.7 percent, to $56.9 million. L’Auberge Lake Charles led with $30.8 million, up 21.6 percent from November 2012. Revenues were up 5.7 percent at the Isle of Capri, to $10.6 million, and 5.6 percent at the Delta Downs slots casino, to $15.5 million.
Delta Downs was the only track casino where revenues rose from a year ago. The Fair Grounds Race Track casino in New Orleans took in $3.7 million, down 7.3 percent from November 2012; in Opelousas, Evangeline Downs’ take of $7.4 million was down $56,300 from a year earlier, or 0.8 percent. Harrah’s Louisiana Downs race track casino in Bossier City took in $4.7 million, down 15 percent from the previous November.
However, total winnings in the Shreveport-Bossier market rose 10 percent from November 2012, to $62.7 million. A large part of that was due to the Margaritaville riverboat casino, which opened in June – Eldorado was the only other riverboat to take in more than it had a year earlier.
The Eldorado and Horseshoe riverboat casinos remained the area’s biggest draws, with the Horseshoe drawing about one in five of the riverboat customers but nearly one-third of the take, at $18.3 million. Eldorado had about one-quarter of the area’s riverboat customers but took less money from each for a total of $11.9 million in November. And Horseshoe’s winnings for the month fell 10.5 percent from a year earlier, while Eldorado’s rose 6 percent.
In New Orleans, the land casino made up for losses at the race track and riverboat casinos. Winnings at the two riverboats were down about 13 percent for a total of $16.5 million, but an increase of nearly 9 percent boosted the land casino’s take to $31 million.
Revenues rose 16 percent at L’Auberge Baton Rouge, the capital area’s largest boat, to $13.4 million. The Hollywood’s take fell 16.4 percent to $5.8 million and the Belle of Baton Rouge saw an 8.4 percent increase to $4.9 million, for an overall increase of 4.8 percent for the market.
The Amelia Belle, the only riverboat in Morgan City, took in $4.2 million, up 5 percent from November 2012.
The Louisiana Gaming Control Board released figures compiled by state police.

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