La.-licensed casinos win $192.9M in November

Gamblers drop nearly $193 million at Louisiana-licensed casinos in November

Kevin Mcgill, Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- Louisiana's state-licensed casinos took in $192.9 million from gamblers in November, up from October's total of nearly $185 million, and a strong improvement from the $175.3 million in November 2011, according to figures released by state police Tuesday.

Gamblers lost $28.5 million at the only state-licensed land casino, Harrah's in New Orleans. That was up a bit from $28.4 million in October. It was a 36 percent improvement over the $21 million the casino won in November 2011.

The state's 13 riverboat casinos took in a total of just under $132.7 million in November, up from $126 million in October and $124.6 million in November 2011.

The slot casinos at the state's four horse race tracks — Delta Downs at Vinton, Harrah's Louisiana Downs at Bossier City, Evangeline Downs in St. Landry Parish and The Fair Grounds in New Orleans — collected $31.7 million in November, up from $30.4 million in October and $29.7 million for November of last year.

The Baton Rouge market, where the L'Auberge casino opened in September to become the third riverboat in the area, saw the biggest jump in gambling income over last year's November total. The three boats took in $23 million this past November, compared to $22.7 million last month and only $14 million when two boats operated there in November 2011. The success of L'Auberge — it was the leader in the market with $11 million in winnings last month — was coming at least in part at the expense of the other two. The Belle of Baton Rouge was down 3.7 percent from the November 2011 figure; the Hollywood Baton Rouge, down more than 26 percent.

The most robust riverboat casino market in the state was the five-boat Shreveport-Bossier area, where gamblers dropped nearly $51.4 million last month. It was followed by the Lake Charles market, where the two boats took in $35.3 million; the Baton Rouge market with $23 million and three New Orleans area riverboats with a combined $22.9 million.

The Louisiana State Police figures do not include Indian reservation casinos in Louisiana, which are not required to report their winnings to the public.