A solid September with a 4 percent increase in year-over-year monthly revenues helped Northwest Indiana's five casinos whittle down their overall decline so far this year.
"We've chipped away at some of our shortfalls," Dan Nita, senior vice president and general manager of Horseshoe Hammond Casino, said Oct. 11.
The casinos together are showing a 1 percent drop in revenue as of the end of September, compared to the same time period last year, he said. Heading into May, the casinos' revenues were down 2.9 percent.
Nita said the five casinos had five months of declining year-over-yer revenues, and four months of growth.
Both Nita and Matthew Schuffert, vice president and general manager of Ameristar Casino in East Chicago, said having one extra weekend day last month, compared to the previous September, helped improve revenues. Schuffert said another bonus was having the full Labor Day weekend last month.
The two exectives were especially excited about their casinos' growth in both slots and table games.
"We're seeing a nice trend on the slot side of business. We haven't seen this consistency for awhile," Schuffert said.
Nita said Horseshoe saw growth in all the main areas — slots, visitor count and table games.
"We've had five consecutive months of growth at Horseshoe compared to 2016," Nita said.
He's also exited that with 6.7 percent year-over-year monthly revenue growth, Horseshoe was the region leader in September.
In the short-term, it appears slots are trending upward, he said, but he is also seeing continued growth of the video gaming terminals in Illinois, which have consistently hurt slots in the Indiana casinos.
According to the monthly revenue report provided by the Indiana Gaming Commission, the region's five casinos saw their collective year-over-year revenues jump 4 percent in September, having raked in a total of $77.4 million compared to $74.18 million in September 2016.
Ameristar Casino in East Chicago took in $17.12 million in September, a 3.6 percent hike over the $16.54 million it brought in the same month last year. R-venues at Blue Chip Casino in Michigan City rose 2.8 percent, from $13.37 million to $13.75 million, Horseshoe Hammond revenues jumped from $31.64 million to $33.94 million and Majestic Star II in Gary saw its revenues inch up by .4 percent, from $5.12 million to $5.14 million.
Majestic Star I in Gary posted the only decline in revenues, going from $7.5 million to $7.43 million, a .9 percent drop.
There were five Fridays and Saturdays last month, compared to five Fridays and four Saturdays the previous September. Weekends tend to draw larger crowds at the casinos.
Chicago-area casinos in Illinois saw their year-over year revenues grow by 3.5 percent in September, Nita said.