Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana is already a major player in Indiana’s gambling industry.
The Hard Rock opened its doors for the first time back in May. It didn’t take long for it to become one of the state’s most successful casinos.
Now that we have June’s revenue numbers in hand, we can take a deeper look at the Hard Rock’s performance.
Hard Rock Indiana casino revenue soars
The “Rocksino” opened on May 14, so it only had a few week’s worth of runway during its debut month.
Even with that shortened window, the Hard Rock’s $20.9 million worth of adjusted gross revenue was the sixth-highest mark in the entire state. Not bad at all for two weeks of business.
Things went up a level during the casino’s first full month in action.
The property’s June revenue topped $26 million, which bumped it up to number three on the casino rankings. Only Indiana Grand ($27.6 million) and Horseshoe Hammond ($34.6 million) had better months.
Indiana Grand is always one of the top Indiana casinos thanks to its proximity to Indianapolis.
Gambling spots like Hammond and Hard Rock, on the other hand, benefit from visitors from Chicago.
Ameristar East Chicago is the other Indiana casino in the area, and the Hard Rock is already outperforming it. Ameristar racked up $21.6 million worth of revenue in June.
The Rocksino’s numbers make for an impressive first month and a half, but they might stabilize over the long-term.
A new casino opening up attracts a lot of attention.
Gamblers are willing to travel for the sake of trying out something new. That may have temporarily inflated the Hard Rock’s revenue stream.
Of course, it’s entirely possible that the Hard Rock’s numbers will be here to stay. After all, the property will always be newer than its competitors in the area.
Thank you slot machines
The vast majority of Hard Rock’s revenue in June came from electronic gaming devices. That accounts for games like electronic roulette, blackjack, and most importantly, slot machines.
Hard Rock Northern Indiana features over 1,200 slot machines, and they cashed in for the casino last month.
$20.5 million of the Rocksino’s $26 million June revenue came from electronic devices.
Hard Rock’s coin in numbers topped $200 million in June, so gamblers have certainly been eager to hit the slots since the casino opened.
Outside of electronic devices, the Rocksino also had a stellar month of revenue from table games.
The Hard Rock made $5.3 million off of table games last month, which was the second-best mark in the entire state. Blackjack was the Hard Rock’s best-performing game with $1.7 million of revenue.
That’s a great start, but the casino still has a long way to go before it catches Hammond. Hammond racked up over $9 million in table game revenue last month, so there’s still a pretty big difference between the top-two podium spots.
What about sports betting?
The in-person sportsbook at the Hard Rock hasn’t opened yet, but once it does, it will have some tough competition from the Chicago area.
Ameristar and Hammond have two of Indiana’s top-three retail sportsbooks. Ameristar took in nearly $4.5 million worth of wagers during June, with Hammond trailing at $3.1 million.
That will make for some stiff competition nearby once the Hard Rock’s sportsbook is up and running.
One way to get ahead of the curve would be to add some online partners to the casino.
Online sports betting apps have to partner up with a retail casino before they can launch in Indiana.
So far, the Hard Rock hasn’t put together any online partnerships. It could be a long time before that becomes a reality.
First thing’s first, the retail sportsbook will need to open for business.
Spectacle Entertainment, the casino’s parent company, also has more important problems to deal with. The Indiana Gaming Commission isn’t happy with Spectacle, so that will likely take priority over online sportsbook partners.
Regardless of the sports betting timeline, the Rocksino is still in a great position. With the money it’s making off of slots and table games, the Hard Rock should be a fixture of Indiana gambling for years to come.
