Casino revenue drops ... again

SPRINGFIELD — With talks of building more casinos stalled for the time being, the latest Illinois Gaming Board report shows that last year was another one of lost revenue for most Chicago-area casinos.

The last revenue report for 2010 shows the Grand Victoria in Elgin took in about $5.8 million less than in 2009, down to about $287 million in gross revenue.

The Hollywood Casino in Aurora got hit even harder last year, down $21.2 million from the year before. It brought in $181.2 million in 2010.

In Joliet, Harrah’s brought in $32.3 million less. But the Hollywood Casino there actually saw revenue rise because a 2009 fire closed the boat for much of that year.

That casino was the exception, though.

Overall, Illinois casinos took in about $55 million less in gross revenue in 2010 over 2009, a drop of about 3.8 percent.

The already-declining riverboat revenue was one argument used against a recent plan in Springfield to build more Illinois casinos and allow race tracks such as Arlington Park to have slot machines.

But supporters of gambling expansion, including Sen. Terry Link, a Waukegan Democrat, said last week that they’ll continue to push on because more slot machines means more money for the state.

Illinois Casino Gaming Executive Director Tom Swoik, who represents the Elgin boat and others, said he fully expects the gambling expansion debate to continue in the coming months, even though it failed to get a vote in Springfield weeks ago.

“This thing comes up every year,” Swoik said. “It’s to the point where: When are they going to give up?”

A new casino is set to open in Des Plaines later this year, and the recession-fueled gambling decline could affect that facility.

Rep. Rosemary Mulligan, a Des Plaines Republican, said that even if the casino makes less money that it could have in better economic times, local government will still benefit from at least some tax money from the project.

Illinois has seen its casino revenues plummet beginning in 2008, when the state’s indoor smoking ban kicked in. In 2007, the state’s nine casinos took in almost $2 billion in revenue. In 2010, they took in about $1.4 billion, a decline of about 30 percent.