Larchwood, Iowa — Fewer people went to Grand Falls Casino Resort near Larchwood this past fiscal year — but those that did go spent more.
As a whole, the Iowa state-licensed casinos saw an overall increase in revenues despite a drop in the number of visitors by more than one million for the fiscal year that ended June 30th. Iowa Racing and Gaming Administrator Brian Ohorilko says that the Grand Falls Casino in Larchwood saw an increase in earnings despite some very cold winter weather that impacted its operations.
Ohorilko says the 19 casinos took in gross revenue of just under 1.5 billion dollars in the past fiscal year.
Ohorilko says with the lack of any major changes in facilities — it appears the casino market remains pretty stable.
The number of people who went through the casino doors dropped again.
Visitors to the casinos dropped from 21-point-eight million last fiscal year to 20-point-seven million this year. Overall Ohorilko says there aren’t any big changes up or down.
The Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino in Altoona saw the largest increase — up five-and-a-half percent to just more than 201-million dollars. The Hard Rock Casino in Sioux City saw a five percent increase to a little more than 80-point-nine ($80,911,617) million dollars. The Hard Rock has done some remodeling, but Ohorilko doesn’t know if that impacted numbers.
Ohorilko says the Hard Rock can take advantage of its amenities.
Among the operations which saw a drop, the Casino Queen in Marquette lost more than $2.6 million in revenue from last year, while the Catfish Bend in Burlington lost more than two-and-a-half million dollars. The Lakeside Casino in Osceola saw a drop of a little more than two million dollars and the Isle Casino in Waterloo a little more than one-point-eight million dollars.
Here’s the 2018 fiscal year report: 2018-Casino-Revenue-PDF
