According to the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, revenues from the 18 state regulated casinos increased slightly, compared to last year over the same period. All in all, $1.38 billion was generated in gambling revenues, which was a 1.1% increase over the past 12 months. Not taken into account was the revenue generated by the three Native American tribal casinos operating in the state.
The Administrator of the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, Jack Ketterer said: “Things seem to be going in the right direction, but it has been slow, which I think is indicative of the entire economy.”
The newest casino in the state, the Grand Falls Casino Resort along the South Dakota border, which opened only last month, managed to generate $4.4 million in its first few weeks of operations. Nearly 175,000 people passed through the casino’s gates in that short time. On its first day of operation, 1,200 attended a private party, and hundreds visited the casino to see the casino for themselves.
The CEO of the group which operates the casino, Dan Kehl said about that first day: “It was fun. It was crazy. It was a lot of people. It was interesting to just stand by the door and watch the reaction of people when they saw the facility.”
80% of the casino’s visitors are from out of state – mainly from Minnesota and South Dakota.
Overall, 21.7 million people visited Iowa’s casinos in the past year, a slight decrease of 1.8%. The average customer, according to the commission, lost around $63.
Iowa’s casinos have been working hard to upgrade their facilities and improve customer service. The rise in revenues has to do with the fact that the state’s economy is slowly improving and therefore players have more recreational dollars to spend.
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