Upstate New York's casino revenue falls

At the moment, gaming revenue figures are below the projections each casino made in its application for state approval, but those estimates were for 2019, when each resort should have all its attractions open.

Del Lago earned just bit under $3 million a week from early February to mid-April. Since then, the weekly average at the casino just off the state Thruway in Tyre fell to just under $2.9 million. The weekly earnings for the most recent period, ending July 2, did clear $3 million.

Rivers, meanwhile, was earning a little more than $3 million a week from its opening to mid-April. In the past ten weeks, it's earnings dropped to just under $2.5 million a week, though it also picked up last week.

"We knew that in the first few months, people would come out to see what we're about, kick the tires," said Jeff Babinski, general manager at del Lago. "But we also know there's a lot of competition that wasn't here a year ago and there are people who would try one place and then maybe another.''

Del Lago projected annual earnings of $282 million in 2019, or an average of $5.4 million per week. Rivers projected gaming revenues of $222.5 in 2019, or an average of $4.3 million per week.