EVANSVILLE— Inclement weather — and the mere threat of it — hurt business at Casino Aztar last month, the operation’s general manager says.
Aztar’s attendance in January was 89,367, down 10 percent compared to the same period in 2012.
The casino’s revenue for the month — money it earned from its customers’ wagering — stood at $9 million last month, down 6 percent as compared to a year earlier.
The numbers come from the Indiana Gaming Commission’s January 2013 revenue report, which was released Friday. The report details how many people visited each of Indiana’s casinos, how much they wagered and how much each casino paid in winnings, kept as revenue and paid in taxes.
Ward Shaw, the general manager at Aztar, cited the month’s mix of wintry weather as a reason for the drop.
“An incredible number of severe weather warnings hurt us here locally. Almost every weekend in January had a chance of sleet, snow, or tornadoes. Even though many of them never materialized into anything substantial, they clearly impacted our guests in this region,” Shaw wrote in an emailed response to a Courier & Press query.
Weekends are typically the busiest time of the week for casinos.
The National Weather Service’s Paducah, Ky., office, which covers the Evansville area, said it does not keep a record of all the warnings it has issued for a given area.
But Evansville did receive more than 4 inches of rain on the weekend of Jan. 11-13, and Jan. 12 was marked by severe thunderstorms and tornado warnings in Vanderburgh County.
Meteorologists also predicted a winter storm for an overnight period leading into Friday, Jan. 25.
Aztar’s main competitors are the French Lick Casino in Southern Indiana, and the Harrah’s casino in Metropolis, Ill. Both of those operations also faltered last month, as did Hoosier casinos as a whole.
French Lick saw 65,047 admissions, down 5 percent year-over-year; Metropolis saw 50,838 visitors, down 19 percent.
French Lick earned $7 million in revenue, down 2 percent; while Metropolis’ revenue dropped 13 percent, to $7 million.
Statewide, Indiana’s casinos saw a combined 1.7 million visitors in January, a drop of 12 percent compared to a year ago. Revenues for all Hoosier casinos totaled $192 million, down 6 percent from last year.