Horseshoe Indianapolis revenue suffered during the second quarter due to competition from a rival casino an hour and a half away.
Caesars Entertainment officials said that during a Q2 earnings call this week. They blamed a revenue loss at Horseshoe on the opening of a new casino in Terre Haute.
Caesars experienced a 5.2% year-over-year decrease in regional revenue, said Caesars COO Anthony Carano.
“Regional segment results reflect competition in new markets.”
CDI execs happy with Terre Haute’s success
Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI) opened its Terre Haute Casino Resort in April, the state’s 14th retail casino. Lawmakers are expected to consider legalizing Indiana online casinos next year after suspending gaming legislation this year. Ironically, Churchill Downs will likely oppose iGaming legislation.
CDI CEO Bill Carstanjen lauded the casino’s success last week during a second-quarter earnings call.
“Regarding our investment in gaming properties, we held the grand opening for our Terre Haute Casino in Indiana on April 5th, followed by its hotel on May 15th, both on time and on budget. We’ve been happy with the performance since the opening.”
He even said that Terre Haute is “a destination for people from the Indianapolis area, particularly from the northern and western portion of the metropolitan statistical area.”
Does Caesars’ claim hold any water?
Do claims by executives from Caesars Entertainment hold up when comparing the revenue numbers of the two casinos in the second quarter? Not really.
Here’s Horseshoe Indianapolis’ revenue each month of the second quarter of 2024:
- April: $23.8 million, 12.2% of state total
- May: $24.4 million, 11.9% of state total
- June: $22.9 million, 12.0% of state total
Now, here’s Terre Haute Casino Resort’s Q2 revenue:
- April: $11.6 million, 5.7% of state total
- May: $12.25 million, 5.9% of state total
- June: $11.37 million, 5.9% of state total
Nationally, casinos tend to have lower revenue in June because of the warm weather. Indiana casinos reflected that trend yet still outperformed the second quarter of 2023 by 4%.
So, is the slim drop in Horseshoe Indianapolis revenue due to seasonal changes or the choice of customers to head to Terre Haute? The answer to that could come in the next quarter.
CDI enjoyed a record-breaking second quarter, helped by a profitable Kentucky Derby in May. Carstanjen said CDI was pleasantly surprised by the impact its Terre Haute casino had on its bottom line.
“We were really thrilled with how Terre Haute opened. … It opened quite a bit stronger than we expected. That’s a great thing. It seems to immediately been a hit with the local population. And we’ll keep working on building that database locally, and we’ll keep working and expect to see improvement over time, reaching further afield into those suburbs of Indianapolis that are 60, 70, 80 miles away down I-70.”
