February 20, 2015
By May Perez at Sun Herald
For the first time since 2007, Mississippi casino revenue for January is higher than the previous year.
The 3.4 percent increase over January 2014 is thanks to a strong showing by Coast casinos in January and a leveling off of revenue at the river casinos.
Mississippi Department of Revenue reported Friday that Mississippi's casino revenue was up $5.5 million. The casinos won $170 million in January compared with $159.5 million last January.
The 11 casinos in South Mississippi were the big winners with a 7 percent jump in casino revenue, to $87.3 million from $81.4 million a year ago. It was the best January for the Coast casinos in three years and the first January increase since 2010.
At the river casinos, where competition has eroded, casino revenue for the past two years, revenue was $77.7 million in January, down $370,000 compared with the prior year. That comes after casinos reported a $697,000 increase in December, a signal that revenues could be leveling off.
The report from the Louisiana casinos this week showed gross casino revenues of $219,9 million in January, a 17 percent increase over the previous year. The Associated Press reported the new Golden Nugget Lake Charles helped make Lake Charles the largest casino market in the state, with more than $78.2 million in casino revenue.