Northwest Indiana's casinos recorded a small increase in gaming revenue in February, taking a significant bite out of January's cold start to the year.
Casinos along the Lake Michigan shore had $72.1 million in gaming win, according to the Indiana Gaming Commission, up 1.5 percent from February 2018. February's gain left the casinos down about 4.7 percent on the year.
The Region's smaller casinos had particularly strong months, with Blue Chip in Michigan City taking in $11.9 million, an 8.4 percent increase, and the two Majestic Star casinos in Gary growing revenue 7.4 percent, to $12.7 million.
East Chicago's Ameristar casino had a win just over $17 million, down 2 percent from last year, while Horseshoe Hammond took in $30.6 million, off 1.3 percent from last February. Play at Horseshoe was up at both its table games and slot machines, but the casino's table win was down considerably from a year ago.
"We did have a lot of players play lucky," Horseshoe Vice President and Assistant General Manager Noah Hirsch said.
Statewide, casinos and racetracks brought in $172.2 million in February, 1.2 percent more than February 2018. Chicago-area casinos on the Illinois side of the state line saw a decline of 4.7 percent, Hirsch said.
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