By Miles Flynn | Southern Indiana Business Report
FRENCH LICK — French Lick Casino saw a dip in its adjusted gross revenue for May, according to the Indiana Gaming Commission Summary of Wagering and Supplemental Tax, released June 11.
French Lick’s AGR total for the month, $6,536,767, is down $85,866, or 1%, from the April figure. There is no May 2020 total to compare the number to; Indiana’s casinos were closed for three months last year due to COVID-19. However, a comparison of the May 2021 figure to pre-COVID May 2019 shows the facility is down $1,558,501, or 19%, from its last normal May.
The casino’s running AGR total for the first seven months of the current fiscal year now stands at $57,589,351. Thanks to last year’s closure, the tally for this year continues to close in rapidly on the total from this time last year. The current total is off the mark now by just $2,439,786, or 4%, after being down $19,659,436, or 35%, three months ago.
Taking a look around the state, the 13 Hoosier casinos reported a combined AGR total of $212,243,900 for May. Unlike French Lick, the statewide industry as a whole saw its AGR up by $9,362,837, or 5%, from April and up $28,440,054, or 15%, from May 2019. The statewide running total for the current fiscal year, $1,788,713,497, is up $330,418,856, or 23%, from this time a year ago.
Turning to taxes, French Lick Casino paid $980,515 in wagering tax and $43,528 in sports wagering tax for May, bringing the month’s tax total to $1,024,043 and the fiscal year’s total thus far to $5,479,369.
Statewide, the properties paid a combined $68,581,017 in wagering tax, $1,791,053 in sports wagering tax, and $4,618,684 in the supplemental wagering tax that took the place of the old admission tax. (French Lick and the two racinos did not pay that tax and do not pay the new tax.) The statewide total of all taxes for May, $74,990,754, brings the fiscal year’s running total up to $511,298,565.