BATON ROUGE — Gamblers lost more than $234.8 million at Louisiana’s 20 major gambling venues in December, a combined year-over-year increase of 14.4 percent.
Much of that gain came from the addition of a third riverboat in Lake Charles, which draws many of its customers from Texas.
State police reported Tuesday Baton Rouge riverboat casino receipts totaled nearly $22.85 million in December.
The state’s biggest bucks came from Lake Charles’ three riverboat casinos last month. Those receipts totaled $72 million, which was 59 percent more than was collected in December 2013 when Lake Charles only had two riverboat casinos.
Louisiana’s 15 riverboats collected $172.7 million in December, which was 20.7 percent higher than combined collections for December 2013.
The Advocate reports the state’s four horse tracks pulled in another $31.77 million in December, an increase of 3.9 percent over the same month in 2013.
In New Orleans last month, Harrah’s New Orleans Casino — the state’s only land-based casino — took in 6.5 percent more receipts than December 2013. Harrah’s had revenue of nearly $30.35 million last month.
The New Orleans area’s three riverboat casinos — Amelia Belle, Boomtown New Orleans and Treasure Chest — pulled in a combined $21.65 million in December, an increase of 5 percent over the same month a year earlier.
Amelia Belle pulled in $4.19 million of that total. Boomtown New Orleans collected $9.42 million, and the Treasure Chest was filled with more than $8 million.
The combined take at the six casinos in Shreveport-Bossier City increased 2.8 percent over receipts for December 2013 and totaled nearly $56.19 million.
Collectively, Louisiana’s 15 riverboats became magnets last month for a total $172.7 million, which was 20.7 percent higher than combined collections for December 2013.