Could we finally be seeing “green shoots” in Illinois, up 5% last month? Maybe, although such recovery as there was consisted of the force that is Rivers Casino, up 36%. Penn National Gaming‘s three casinos posted a feeble $29 million, down 7% and undershooting Wall Street‘s expectations. Caesars Entertainment‘s two casinos were, combined, flat year-over-year, for a $27 gross, while Boyd Gaming‘s Par-A-Dice fell 8%, to $9 million. MGM Resorts International‘s Grand Victoria saw a rare but welcome 4% uptick. Statewide, customers visited less (-6.5%) but spent a lot more (up 12%). Other than Grand Victoria and Rivers, Harrah’s Joliet was the only casino to post a revenue positive month, up 3%.
The beleaguered casino owners are teaming up, though, to press more 24-hour operations. “Opponents contend that nonstop betting would create a dangerous situation for gambling addicts who could end up sitting in front of a casino table or machine for days,” reports the Chicago Tribune. Of course, addicts can already do that at any of the state’s slot routes. Having dumped several thousand land-based slot machines into the market Illinois’ government should consider itself obligated to do the right thing and grant casinos those two extra hours a day. Riverboat casinos are also taxed at a much higher rate, which also argues for gaming regulators to level the playing field.
Indiana had a worse time of it last month, as fewer visited (-12%) but still spent more 
(7%). However, that wasn’t enough to counteract a contraction in the market, with revenues off 6%, mostly in the south. Hollywood Lawrenceburg (left) got hit hard by competition from Ohio, down 35%. Fairly slightly better was Belterra, down “only” 23% but grossing only half as much as H’wood Lawrenceburg. New, Caesars-owned competition took only a minimal bite of out of Horseshoe Southern Indiana‘s butt. At the north end of the state, Horseshoe Hammond ($41.6 million) was the revenue champion, beating any other casino in the state by a huge margin.
The racinos were crazy busy, too. Hoosier Park was up 19.5% and Indiana Live posted a 24% leap. The numbers are doubly impressive when you look at August 2012 and see that the tracks’ grosses grew 15% and 19%, respectively, back then. No riverboat had a revenue-positive month but at least the northern ones were able to keep their retreats within single-digit margins. Horseshoe Cincinnati may not be a massive breakout hit but it’s eating southern Indiana’s lunch just the same.
