Indiana’s two busiest casinos see opposite trends

Indiana's two busiest riverboats each saw big swings in their business last month, with the top Lake Michigan casino
seeing an 11 percent jump in revenue and the leading boat on the Ohio River recording an equal decline.

Overall, the state's 13 casinos saw their winnings grow slightly for a second straight month, according to monthly financial
reports released Monday by the Indiana Gaming Commission.

The casinos reported that their gambling revenue grew in July by $1.7 million from a year ago to about $253.2 million, paying
$51.4 million in taxes. They also saw a small increase in their June-to-June business.

Casino operators say they are they are cautiously optimistic that their business is bouncing back from the recession.

"I think we have a ways to go," said Joe Branchik, vice president of marketing for Horseshoe Casino in Hammond.
"But it is very promising to see this market show revenue growth for the first time in a while."

Horseshoe raked in total revenues of almost $50 million, an 11.4 percent increase from July 2009 revenues — and its
admissions jumped 22 percent to nearly 573,000. The five Lake Michigan casinos reported a 4.9 percent revenue increase from
July 2009

The northwestern Indiana gains are significant because of continued weakness in other casino markets both in Indiana and
neighboring states, said Ed Feigenbaum, editor of the Indiana Gaming Insight newsletter.

Business wasn't as good for southern Indiana's casinos.

The largest of those — Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg near Cincinnati — reported $39.4 million in gambling
revenue in July, down from $44.5 million a year ago. The casino also had its attendance drop by 20 percent to about 362,000
visits.

Hollywood Casino general manager Tony Rodio said the slower July was expected since last year it had just opened a new $336
million boat that was more than twice the size of its previous one.

"There was no way we were going to match last year's numbers," Rodio said.