Ameristar Casino in East Chicago was hit at the turnstile and the craps table in March, resulting in an almost $5.5 million drop in revenues, according to the Indiana Gaming Revenue report issued Thursday.
Ameristar took in only $572,000 at the table games last month, due in part to a negative $1.5 million at the craps table. This compared with $3 million in table game revenues last March. Slots were down from $22 million to $19 million, making total revenues for last month at $19.6 million compared to $25 million in March 2009.
Its turnstile count was down from almost 300,000 last March to just below 260,000.
Senior vice president and general manager Pete Savage was in meetings and could not respond as to why the table games were hurt so badly. But in a prepared statement, he blamed the overall downward revenue trend on the Cline Avenue bridge closure.
"Obviously, the Cline Avenue bridge closure continues to be an issue for not only Ameristar but other local businesses that have been impacted by decreased traffic. In comparison to March 2009, our attendance for the month of March 2010 was down 15 percent, which is in direct correlation with our revenue decrease," he said.
"It remains our continued hope that through continued collaboration with (Indiana Department of Transportation) and the Cline Avenue Coalition that a timely solution will be realized to offset current and future economic consequences of the closure, and to provide safe and expedient passage to our casino."
In comparison, Horseshoe Hammond and the Majestic Star Casinos showed improvement at the turnstile and in revenues over last March. Horseshoe took in $53.5 million from 542,000 gamers, compared to $49.1 million from 492,000 gamers in March 2009. Majestic Star I took in $11 million and Majestic Star II $9.7 million from 135,000 gamers each, compared to $10.4 million and $8.6 million, respectively, from 122,000 gamers each the previous March.
Ed Feigenbaum, editor of Indiana Gaming Insight, said if these casinos are holding their own in this economy, it is a positive sign as opposed to a negative sign.
At Blue Chip in Michigan City, where competition from Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo, Mich., is the big factor, revenues were down from $18.6 million to $15.2 million and turnstile count was down from 252,000 to 220,000.