Volume continues increasing at Hard Rock Casino

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The last full month of summer was a tough one for Northwest Indiana’s four casinos — even before the new downtown Chicago casino opened last week.

Data released Tuesday by the Indiana Gaming Commission (IGC) show each Region gaming destination last month failed to increase its “win,” or revenue after paying successful bettors, compared to August 2022.

Even Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana, which routinely has bested its year-over-year monthly win since opening to the public in May 2021, fell short in August — despite taking more wagers at both its table games and slot machines relative to last August.

“August 2023 was an extremely good month for our players, which is something we celebrate continuously. We nearly set a record — paying out almost $20 million in slot jackpots in August alone,” said Matt Schuffert, Hard Rock president.

Schuffert said he expects the big slot wins to continue after Hard Rock recently opened an “Amped Up Jackpots” room featuring several linked slot machines offering a jackpot that starts at $5,000 and is guaranteed to hit before reaching $10,000. According to the IGC, Hard Rock recorded $31.6 million in win last month, a 3.4% decrease compared to its August 2022 win of $32.7 million, according to the IGC.

Despite the drop, the Gary entertainment destination still accounted for more than 16% of the state’s $194.1 million in total casino win for the eighth month of 2023 — Indiana’s third sub-$200 million month of the year, records show.

Hard Rock’s state-leading slot machine play totaled $255.4 million in August, with a second-best win of $23.5 million; compared to August 2022 slot win of $24.3 million on $248.2 million in play.

The Gary casino also led the state for August table game play, primarily baccarat, with $49.5 million, and was tops in table win at $8.1 million.

To put that in perspective, more money was wagered at Hard Rock table games in August than the tables at the three other Northwest Indiana casinos combined ($45.9 million), records show.

According to the IGC, the state’s former earnings leader, Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, last month ranked third in the state behind its Horseshoe Indianapolis sister property with $24.4 million in win — down 20.1% from its August 2022 win of $29.3 million.

Monthly win at Ameristar Casino in East Chicago fell 9.1% to $15.2 million for August compared with $16.7 million for the same month in the prior year.

Last month’s win at Blue Chip Casino, in Michigan City, totaled $11.1 million versus $11.3 million last August, a decrease of 2%, according to the IGC.

Records show slot and table game volume, in addition to win, decreased last month on a year-over-year basis at the Horseshoe, Ameristar and Blue Chip casinos.

For sports wagering, the statewide online and retail handle was $238.1 million last month, compared with $238 million in August 2022. The all-time monthly record is $500.1 million set in January 2022.

In total, Indiana in August collected $32.7 million in tax revenue from slot machine and table game play, and $2.2 million from settled sports wagers, according to the IGC.