2 area casinos do better
Written on January 15, 2010
St. Louis-area casinos saw their business grow in 2009, but all of the gains were concentrated in two casinos.
Revenue at the region’s six casinos climbed nearly 2 percent for the year to $1.05 billion, despite a tough economy that had gamblers nationwide holding their wallets tighter. In December, casino revenue grew 1.7 percent, according to Missouri and Illinois gambling regulators.
The growth was not spread evenly. Lumière Place, the 2-year-old casino in downtown St. Louis, was responsible for all the gains and more, as it has come up to full speed and benefited from tourism downtown. Ameristar in St. Charles saw business grow 1.5 percent on the year and passed Harrah’s in Maryland Heights to become the region’s biggest casino by revenue.
The region’s other four casinos all saw business fall, led by the ailing President Casino on the Mississippi River. Both Illinois casinos — the Casino Queen in East St. Louis and the Argosy Casino-Alton — continued their long slides. Both have seen business fall steadily since the smoking ban took effect in Illinois and voters removed loss limits at Missouri casinos. Harrah’s saw revenue basically unchanged on the year, down 0.1 percent.
A seventh casino, River City in south St. Louis County, is set to open in March.
Filed in: marketing.