By Miles Flynn | Southern Indiana Business Report
FRENCH LICK — French Lick Casino had adjusted gross revenue of $6,000,679 for August, according to the Indiana Gaming Commission Summary of Wagering and Supplemental Tax released Sept. 10.
The figure is down $800,618, or 12%, from July but up $1,214,051, or 25%, from August 2020. The facility’s running AGR total for the first two months of the current fiscal year now stands at $12,801,976, which is up $2,996,475, or 30%, from where it was one year ago.
However, looking back to pre-COVID August 2019 for comparisons with a “normal” year shows the August figure remains down $1,906,748, or 24%, from two years ago. Likewise, the running total for the current fiscal year is down $2,583,934, or 17%, for the period.
Statewide, the results were very similar to what was seen at French Lick, at least until comparisons with 2019 numbers. The August combined AGR total from Indiana’s 13 casinos is $190,387,174. That figure is down $21,776,786, or 10%, from July, but it’s up $35,060,804, or 23%, from August 2020. The running AGR total for the first two months of the fiscal year, $402,551,134, is up $86,238,992, or 27%, from one year ago.
The statewide AGR total for August is actually up from pre-COVID August 2019 by $16,443,679, or 9%. And the running total for the first two months of the current fiscal year is up from where it was two years ago by $58,947,581, or 17%.
Turning to taxes, French Lick Casino paid $90,010 in wagering tax and $41,747 in sports wagering tax for July, making the monthly total $131,757 and the total for the first two months of the current fiscal year $299,202.
Statewide, the 13 properties paid a combined $31,826,680 in wagering tax, $1,571,079 in sports wagering tax and $4,175,415 in the supplemental wagering tax that replaced the old admission tax that 10 properties had paid before its abolition. The total tax for all 13 properties amounts to $37,573,174, bringing the total for the first two months of the current fiscal year to $70,995,254.