BY LU ANN FRANKLIN, Times of Northwest Indiana Correspondent
Revenues for Northwest Indiana's casinos rose across the board from November to December of this year, yet all but one casino showed declines compared with one year ago.
Hammond-based Horseshoe Casino was the only year-to-year winner.
It posted monthly gains in admissions with 421,704 visitors and slightly more than $44 million in gaming revenues in December, an Indiana Gaming Commission report released Monday shows. That compares with 396,684 admissions and $40.4 million for the previous month. Horseshoe's gaming revenues in December 2007 were slightly more than $38 million.
In the January 2008 report, Horseshoe posted 2.5 million visitors for the year 2007. The latest report shows the casino admitted more than 2.9 million patrons in 2008.
"Of course, you had the expanded platform at the Horseshoe Casino this last year," said Ed Feigenbaum, publisher of the Indianapolis-based Indiana Gaming Insight newsletter, referring to the $450 million renovation the Hammond casino completed in August.
In December, Ameristar in East Chicago had 265,880 visitors and gaming revenues of $22.9 million, compared with 239,834 and slightly more than $22 million for the previous month. However, the casino, which changed ownership in 2008, had about 150,000 less patrons compared with Resorts East Chicago's visitor numbers in 2007. December 2007 revenues for Resorts were $23.8 million.
Majestic Star I and II, the two Gary-based casinos owned by Don Barden, saw combined gaming revenues climb from November. The two boats took in a combined $17.8 million during December, up from $16.7 million in gaming revenues during November. Visitor numbers also increased from 104,934 in November to 114,948 in December.
Year-to-year comparisons indicate the two Majestic Star casinos had 913,923 visitors in 2007 and 811,672 visitors in 2008, while gaming revenues for December 2007 were more than $20 million.
Michigan City's Blue Chip admission climbed to 170,867 in December, up from 148,145 in the previous month. However, the casino visitor numbers in 2008 dropped to about 1.25 million from 2007's total of nearly 1.5 million.
Gaming revenues for Blue Chip during December 2008 were $13.5 million compared to $11.7 million in November. The casino's revenues in December 2007 were $13.8 million.