By Miles Flynn | Southern Indiana Business Report
FRENCH LICK — After a long phased-in reopening due to COVID-19, French Lick Casino reported a tremendous revenue surge for March, according to the Indiana Gaming Commission Summary of Wagering and Supplemental Tax for the month.
The facility’s taxable adjusted gross revenue for March came in at a whopping $7,150,665, which is up from February by $2,807,279 — a staggering 65%. Looking back a year, the latest figure is up $4,606,250 — or 131% — over the casino’s total for its abbreviated March 2020 operations. Indiana’s casinos were ordered closed on March 16, 2020, and they reopened, at limited capacity, on June 15, 2020.
March was the first month the Orange County casino has topped $7 million since way back in pre-COVID December 2019. That stellar March helped the facility make up some lost ground, too. French Lick’s running total for the first nine months of the current fiscal year now stands at $44,429,951. While the total’s still down $15,599,186 — 26% — from where it stood one year ago, the revenue gap is beginning to narrow from the 35% difference in February.
The statewide story was similar but not quite as impressive. The March combined AGR total for the 13 properties around Indiana came in at $198,830,371, which is up $71,267,437 — 56% — from February and $110,999,130 — 126% — from March 2020. However, the statewide industry’s faster growth immediately after reopening means the 13 properties’ combined AGR total for the first three quarters of the current fiscal year is much closer to last year’s total. The current total — $1,373,588,534 — is off the mark from a year earlier by $84,706,107 — a scant 6%.
Turning to taxes, French Lick Casino paid $858,080 in wagering tax and $82,519 in sports wagering tax for March. The month’s total tax of $940,599 brings the running total for the first three quarters of the fiscal year to $3,592,431.
Statewide, the figures amount to $58,358,926 in wagering tax, $2,503,311 in sports wagering tax and $4,104,443 in supplemental wagering tax. The supplemental wagering tax took the place of the old admission tax, but French Lick and the two racinos in the Indianapolis area do not pay it since they were statutorily exempt from the admission tax at the time of the change.