The past year has not been kind to Louisiana casinos. Revenues for riverboat casinos in Louisiana during 2009 were about $69 million less than the 2008 total, according to the Louisiana Gaming Control Board. Though there was a small increase in the last month of 2009 – the December 2009 total was approximately $131 million more than November’s $122 million – the year’s intake overall shows a consistent slow in gaming revenue. Wade Duty, executive director of the Casino Association of Louisiana, said the small jump from November to December is neither surprising nor significant. ‘That’s largely driven by New Years, which is always a big weekend for casinos,’ Duty said. ‘I wouldn’t read a lot into that. It’s not like there was an abnormal increase from November to December.’ Duty said year-to-year comparisons are much more telling when looking for revenue trends. In the latter part of 2009, only September had higher revenues than the same month in 2008. Revenue in September 2009 was approximately $132 million, while the 2008 total was $116 million. Many casinos were shut down last September in the wake of Hurricane Gustav. Because there were no shut downs this year, an increase in revenue was anticipated, said state police audit director Jeff Traylor. Duty said the 2009 decrease was due to a delay in recessional effects reaching Louisiana. ‘Louisiana – because it doesn’t have durable goods manufacturing – was not being hit as hard as places like Michigan, where they rely on the auto industry,’ Duty said. ‘You hadn’t seen any effects of the recession [in Louisiana] in ’08, but by the fourth quarter of ’09, you saw it.’ Traylor agreed Louisiana’s revenue decreases were bound to happen eventually. ‘We finally caught up with the problems everyone else was having,’ Traylor said. Duty said though the casino industry hasn’t faced layoffs on the scale of other industries, casinos are being forced to cut back wherever possible. ‘They’re trying to maximize efficiency wherever they can by increasing responsibilities for existing positions and not refilling other positions as quickly as they become vacant,’ Duty said. ‘Second, they’re trying to work with the state – or sometimes in spite of the state – to improve our competitiveness with other jurisdictions.’ Duty said Louisiana casinos suffer by having to tax certain money twice. ‘If a casino takes its money, which has already been taxed once, and mails a $10 coupon to a prospective player, when that player brings the $10 back, we are taxed again on that $10 and any other money,’ Duty said. ‘It’s hard to market when you’re being taxed twice.’ Traylor said his ‘very unscientific’ projection for 2010 revenues is either more of the same or continued decreases. ‘We’re not in the middle of any kind of recovery,’ Traylor said. ‘I would expect it will continue where it is or go down a little bit. There’s nothing that makes me think we’re going to recover.’ ____ Contact Ryan Buxton at [email protected] ‘