USD 5.8 M take for Hard Rock Sioux City Casino in January

"When the ground was dry and the temperatures were above zero people came out and we had great numbers," Hard Rock General Manager Todd Moyer said. "In fact, we've seen the same thing so far in February. We're out to a rocket start."

In December, buoyed by holiday spending by guests, the Hard Rock reported nearly $6.2 million in revenue, the casino's second-highest haul behind only the $7.5 million it collected during its opening month of August.

Last month, 192,905 people entered the casino floor, according to the latest revenue report from the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission. Betters left behind an average of $30.

The Hard Rock monthly revenues consistently have exceeded the comparable numbers for the floating casino it replaced, a Journal review of Iowa Racing and Gaming data shows.

In January 2014, the former Argosy Sioux City riverboat took in about $3.8 million in adjusted gross revenues. Yet for the past four years, each January prior to that, the gambling boat collected between $4.4 million and $4.8 million, according to IRGC data.

The Hard Rock's 30,000-square-foot casino floor has 839 slot machines and 25 table games.

The Hard Rock developer, SCE Partners Inc., projected first-year adjusted gross revenues of $90.5 million. To hit that target, the casino would need to average about $7.5 million per month.