February winnings jump for Louisiana casinos

The 12 riverboat casinos, Harrah's New Orleans land casino and the three casinos at race tracks won us$ 217.2 million, compared with us$ 199.5 million for February 2011, state police reported last week.

Every Louisiana casino market showed increases in the take from a year ago, including Lake Charles with 12 percent, Shreveport-Bossier City with 10.5 percent and a 9 percent jump in Baton Rouge.

The riverboats won us$ 151 million, the New Orleans casino took in us$ 28.9 million and the track casinos won us$ 37.2 million. The casino business nationwide has been trying to recover, with varying degrees of success, from the economic downturn and increased competition as more states have added gambling.

Joseph Weinert, a casino industry analyst with Spectrum Gaming Group in Lindwood, said it was difficult to gauge what a one-month jump in revenue means over the long term. “Generally, the gaming industry is like the economy as a whole," Weinert said. "It is slowly climbing back."

In January, casino revenue in Nevada jumped 18.4 percent from January 2011. In February, though, New Jersey casinos saw their gambling winnings slide 5.9 percent from February 2011. Atlantic City has been in a general downward trend since casinos were added in Pennsylvania and New York.

Revenue at Mississippi casinos in January slid 10.5 percent from January 2011. Casinos recently have opened at two race tracks in Arkansas, a possible factor in a revenue decline among Mississippi casinos along the Mississippi River, analysts have said.

More competition is coming for the wagering dollar within Louisiana as new riverboat casino-hotels are being developed in Bossier City, Lake Charles and Baton Rouge.