Mississippi River Counties commercial casino revenue continues to decline

Mississippi gaming commission reports for September show that gaming revenue in the Mississippi counties continues to decrease year after year. Gulf Coast county facilities have regained their footing after a small decline in 2013 revenues. While the River Counties have regained their footing slightly – revenue was down close to ten percent in Jan-Sep 2013 and just under six percent over Jan-Sep 2014 – the decrease remains worth watching. 

The January 2014 closure of Harrah’s Tunica accounts for a portion of the decline, but it is a continuation of a longer-term trend. While the River counties have consistently held higher year-end gaming revenues for the past six years, we predict that the continued downward trend will show the Gulf counties with higher year-end revenue than the River counties for the first time since 2008.

There are 11 facilities in the Gulf Coast Counties after the mid-September 2014 closure of Margaritaville in Biloxi and 17 Mississippi River County facilities after the January 2014 closure of Harrah’s Tunica.

Mississippi Commercial Casino Revenues*
	Gulf Coast Counties	Mississippi River Counties	Total Mississippi
Jan-Sep 2014	$821,081,638	$758,316,423	$1,579,398,061
Jan-Sep 2013	$813,235,173	$805,909,064	$1,619,144,237
Jan-Sep 2012	$840,265,997	$892,914,520	$1,733,180,517
Increase/Decrease in Revenue
	Gulf Coast Counties	Mississippi River Counties	Total Mississippi
2013 to 2014	0.96%	-5.91%	-2.45%
2012 to 2013	-3.22%	-9.74%	-6.58%
2012 to 2014	-2.28%	-15.07%	-8.87%
Source: Mississippi Gaming Commission Reports

The above numbers do not include revenues of the three Native American facilities in Mississippi. Look for an upcoming blog on this topic!