Indiana: Worse than expected?

Despite per-patron spending that was up 7% last month, a 16% falloff in admissions more than negated it. Depending on whether one counts tax-deductible free play or not, Indiana was anywhere from 9.5% to 11% down last month. Tight consumer spending unquestionably played a role but Horseshoe Cincinnati merrily played havoc with revenues in southern Indiana. Penn National Gaming‘s Hollywood Lawrenceburg plunged 36%. (Yikes!) Pinnacle Entertainment’s Belterra slid 19%, to just under $10 million. Wall Street analysts were divided as to whether the results were better or worse than expected. Caesars Entertainment properties held firm, with but 2% slippages, Horseshoe Southern Indiana being safely insulated from Ohio competition and bumping Hollywood from the region’s top spot, $22 million to $19 million. (You really have to wonder about Penn’s and Pinnacle’s determination to open Buckeye State racinos, and further bleed their Indiana casinos.) Also recording a catastrophic month was privately held Grand Victoria, down 30%. French Lick Resort took a 12% wallop, while Casino Aztar and Hoosier Park racino notched single-digit declines.

Upstate, both Boyd Gaming‘s Blue Chip (-14%) and the former Ameristar East Chicago (now Pinnacle and down 15%) had rough times of it, too. Excluding Blue Chip, Horseshoe Hammond outgrossed all its immediate competitors combined. The gargantuan casino — more like a continent moored to the Indiana coast — is a true category killer and remains so.