Brian Ohorilko. (RI file photo)
This is the final month of the fiscal year for Iowa’s state-licensed casinos, and it appears competition across the boarder will impact the year-end revenue total.
“We anticipate a little less revenue than what was received last fiscal year, but still a very strong year for the industry, and so we did see some softening of the market the last couple of months,” Racing and Gaming Administrator, Brian Ohorilko says. Harrah’s Casino and the Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs in southwest Iowa both saw revenue drop in April and May.
“That was expected as the operations in Nebraska are starting to pick up a little bit and so we are starting to see some impact there — but nothing that wasn’t expected,” Ohorilko says. Harrah’s was down roughly $634,000 in gross revenue in May of this year and around $300,000 in April compared to last year. The Horseshoe Casino was down around $3 million in May, and $1.5 million in April of this year.
Ohorilko says the drop is not a major concern. “Still overall it appears that we’re going to have a very strong year in terms of overall revenue throughout the state,” he says. The 19 state casinos brought in more than $1.7 billion in the last fiscal year.