Posted on: October 21, 2023, 03:22h.
Last up to date on: October 21, 2023, 03:22h.
The Queen of Baton Rouge loved a powerful first full month in operation, as the previous Hollywood riverboat almost doubled its gaming win in September 2023.
The Queen opened its new 100,000-square-foot land-based on line casino with greater than 700 slot machines, 18 desk video games, and a DraftKings Sportsbook on Aug. 24. Data launched by the Louisiana Gaming Control Board (LGCB) exhibits that the brick-and-mortar on line casino received about $7.3 million from gamblers final month — an 85% year-over-year surge from the $3.9 million that the then-boat received in September 2022.
The on line casino owned and operated by Illinois-based CQ Holding Company acquired the previous riverboat in 2021 from Penn Entertainment for $28.2 million. The firm then spent $85 million to maneuver the gaming ground inland and overhaul the property’s restaurant choices.
The Queen’s culinary choices now embrace 1717, an American restaurant, the three Woks Noodle Bar, and Shaq’s Big Chicken.
While The Queen skilled robust gaming income features in September, with the $7.3 million received additionally a 90% bounce on August when the boat and new on line casino received about $3.8 million, Baton Rouge’s two different casinos noticed income slide. The L’Auberge Casino Hotel generated gross gaming income (GGR) of $12.5 million — 5% beneath its September 2022 win of $13.2 million — whereas the Belle of Baton Rouge noticed its GGR tumble 21% to simply $890,800.
Inland Moves
CQ additionally owns and operates the Belle of Baton Rouge and plans to relocate that riverboat inland, too. Unlike its Queen, CQ’s Belle of Baton Rouge features a resort.
CQ officers mentioned in April that their $100 million funding on the Belle will transfer the on line casino from the riverboat to the property’s atrium, pending state approvals. The resort’s 250 resort rooms will even be renovated.
Work is about to start later this month and be accomplished someday within the fall of 2024. In addition to its two downtown Baton Rouge casinos, CQ owns and operates the DraftKings at Casino Queen in East St. Louis, Il., and Casino Queen Marquette in Iowa.
Louisiana lawmakers in 2018 agreed to finish the state’s requirement that gaming solely happens above water. The modification permits state-licensed casinos to petition the LGCB for permission to maneuver their gaming inland, as long as the brand new brick-and-mortar on line casino house stays inside 1,200 ft of the unique riverboat.
Louisiana Gaming Gains
As for the remaining of the Louisiana gaming trade, the state’s 12 different riverboats noticed income drop year-over-year.
The three casinos in Lake Charles — Golden Nugget, L’Auberge, and Horseshoe — mixed to win $62.2 million, a 4.4% decline from September 2022. The 5 boats in Shreveport/Bossier received $41.2 million, a 0.6% loss.
The three riverboats in New Orleans noticed GGR contract 3% to $18.9 million. Harrah’s New Orleans, a land-based on line casino, fared even worse, as on line casino win tumbled nearly 10% to $20.7 million.
The Shreveport/Bossier market within the coming years will return to a six-casino market after The Cordish Companies this week gained licensing approval from the LGCB to amass the shuttered Diamond Jacks property. Cordish is planning a $270 million funding to overtake the distressed resort and create a brand new land-based on line casino.
