August 17, 2015
By Mary Perez at Sun Herald
Customers play blackjack at Boomtown Casino Biloxi. July winnings for the Coast casinos were up 9 percent from July 2014 and the state's revenues were up 5 percent.
July is typically a busy month at the casinos in South Mississippi and this year the extra visitors contributed to a hefty 9 percent increase in gross casino revenue.
The 11 casinos won $104.2 million from gamblers in July, up $8.7 million from July 2014
It was the second time this year that revenue topped $100 million at the Coast casinos. That happened regularly in 2007 and 2008 after Hurricane Katrina and before the national recession, but only once since then in 2012.
Year to date, the Coast casinos are $46 million ahead in revenues of the same time in 2014. The river casinos saw their second straight monthly increase in July, with revenues rising to $85.4 million from $84.8 million last year. The river casinos started the year with five months of down revenues.
The state Department of Revenue reports that Mississippi's total gross casino revenue was $189.6 million in July, an increase of 5 percent.