By law, Casinos based in the State of Louisiana must be located on a boat…or at a racetrack……or on a Native American Reservation. The one exception to the rule is the 115,000 square foot Harrah’s Casino located in the area of old New Orleans known as the Vieux Carré or the French Quarter just one block from the Mississippi River.
One of the most alluring aspects to gambling at this particular Harrah’s is the proximity of so many world class restaurants. Literally within walking distance, hungry players can experience dinning on a scale and of a quality that they may never again equal and almost certainly will never best.
The State of Louisiana issues licenses and, of course, taxes to the Casinos located in the Pelican State. The selection of riverboats as sites for gambling establishments surely goes back to the glory days of the paddle wheel riverboats plying their trade up and down the Mississippi River as made famous by the likes of Mark Twain and many others. The term “Riverboat Gambler” is still widely used today.
In 2012 Louisiana Casinos took in $2.4 billion in winnings from its players…..up slightly from the 2011 totals of $2.37 billion. Those figures do not mention hotel rooms, food and beverage expenditures …..all of which would add up to another very large dollar figure.
Harrah’s land based operation in the French Quarter won $34.7 million in December which was up from $28.5 million in November. These figures are an increase from the 2011 numbers when Harrah’s took in $32.1 million last December.
The 13 River Boat Casinos together netted $143.5 million in December which is up from the $138.6 million in 2011.
In Louisiana the Casinos at the states four racetracks are limited to slot machine activity but they still managed to bring in $33.2 million in December, up a little from the $31.2million figure in Dec. 2011.
The numbers for the calendar year are even more impressive. For 2011 Harrah’s New Orleans took in $338.9 million; the River Boats won over $1.6 billion and the slots at the tracks brought in an additional $405,000,000.
It should be noted that these figures do not include revenue from the Indian Reservation Casinos which are not required to report winnings to the public.
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