July was a strong month for Northwest Indiana’s four casinos, with a favorable calendar and more visitors helping to bump total revenues up by more than 12% over June.
The casinos took in a total of $104.2 million in July compared to $92.2 million in June, according to the monthly revenue report released Thursday by the Indiana Gaming Commission.
The difference compared to July 2019 was higher, up 39%. The casinos were closed last July due to COVID-19.
“July was a decent month. It seems to be the strongest of the summer months,” said Ed Feigenbaum, editor of Indiana Gaming Insight.
He said what was most interesting to him was the fact that three properties in the state — Horseshoe Hammond, Hard Rock Northern Indiana, both in Northwest Indiana, and Indiana Grand — all had revenues topping $30 million.
“The last time that happened was in March 2008,” Feigenbaum said.
According to the IGC report, Horseshoe Hammond raked in $36.16 million in July, a 5% increase over its $34.45 million in revenues in June and 11.3% hike over July 2019′s $32.49 million haul.
Hard Rock Northern Indiana came in second with $32.06 million in revenues, an almost 24% jump over June’s $25.91 million and a whopping 153% hike over the $12.6 million its predecessors, the two Majestic Star Casinos, took in together during July 2019.
Ameristar Casino in East Chicago had $22.68 million in revenues in July, a 5% increase over June’s $21.58 million and an almost 38% hike from July 2019′s $16.47 million. Blue Chip Casino in Michigan City had revenues of $13.3 million in July, up 21% over June’s $11 million and about even with July 2019′s $13.21 million in revenues.
“I am very happy with Hard Rock Northern Indiana’s performance in July. It was our strongest month yet as we led all Indiana casinos in table game drop and win in only our second full month of operation,” the casino’s president, Matthew Schuffert, said.
He said July’s calendar was more favorable, but he said that only accounted for a small piece of the growth over June. July had five Fridays and five Saturdays, the two strongest days of the week for casinos.
“In general we are seeing visitation increase across the board,” Schuffert said.
Schuffert said the new location on 29th Street, just off Interstate 94, has been one of its advantages even though the stretch of road has seen backups due to road construction.
“Guests find us extremely easy to navigate to, despite typical minor road construction,” he said.
Feigenbaum said other things were happening in the industry that could have contributed to the strong month, including the opening of new gaming platforms.
Caesars Entertainment announced earlier this month that it’s converting its sportsbooks from William Hill to a new Caesars Sportsbook. The new brand sportsbook is already underway at Horseshoe Hammond, Harrah’s Hoosier Park, Caesars Southern Indiana and Indiana Grand.
The new Caesars app integrates mobile sports betting with Caesars Rewards, the casino company’s guest loyalty program. Each bet placed on the app will earn Caesars Rewards tier credits and rewards credits.
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