Many Louisiana casinos see gaming win dip in August

NEW ORLEANS -- Most of Louisiana's state-licensed casinos experienced a drop in winnings last month compared to August 2010. And all of them won less than they did in July.

The total take for August for Harrah's casino at New Orleans, the 13 riverboat casinos around the state and four slot-machine operations at horse tracks was $185.5 million. That compares to $193.4 million for August 2010 and $224.3 million in July 2011.

Individually, all of the casinos saw their winnings from gamblers drop in August compared to their winnings in July -- a typically busy month for casinos. Most took in less compared to August a year ago.

Harrah's casino in downtown New Orleans saw a more than 10 percent drop in winnings from July to August. The New Orleans casino won $24.6 million last month, compared to $27.4 million in July. The August figure was down by more than 7 percent from August 2010, when it took in $26.6 million.

The 13 riverboats took in $129.8 million, down more than 18 percent from $158.9 million in July; and down almost 4 percent from $134.7 million in August a year ago.

For the race track slots, total take was $31.1 million in August, down nearly 18 percent from July's $37.9 million; nearly 3 percent down from $32 million in August 2010.

Only the Baton Rouge and Lake Charles riverboat markets saw an increase in total winnings from August 2010 to August 2011. In the three-boat Lake Charles market, that was due to L'auberge du lac, which had a 2.4 percent increase over the previous August's winnings, compared to losses by the other two boats. In Baton Rouge, Hollywood Casino saw an increase in August-to-August winnings of more than 7 percent, while winnings for the competing Belle of Baton Rouge were down.

Of four slot machine race tracks around the state, only the Fair Grounds at New Orleans did better in August 2011 than August 2010, with a 4 percent larger take. Delta Downs near Lake Charles, Evangeline Downs in St. Landry Parish, and Harrah's Louisiana Downs in Bossier City all saw lower winnings in August 2011.