Louisiana riverboat, racetrack and video-gaming receipts up year to date; January mixed month

Donna Jackson, a supervisor in the Louisiana State Police Gaming Audit Section, told the Louisiana Gaming Control Board on Feb. 20 that January 2025 produced mixed monthly results but a modest gain for the fiscal year. "In January, the 14 operating riverboats generated adjusted gross receipts of $138,632,324," Jackson said.

The audit section said adjusted gross receipts for the 2024-25 fiscal year to date stood at $991.3 million, an increase of about $16 million, or 1.7 percent, from the prior fiscal year. Jackson reported state fees collected as of Jan. 31, 2025, totaled $213 million for the fiscal year.

Why this matters: The report is the board's routine financial snapshot used to track industry performance and state fee collections that fund multiple state programs. Jackson emphasized that monthly comparisons can be affected by calendar differences: January 2025 had five Fridays compared with four in January 2024.

The board heard line-item results for major properties and product lines. Caesars New Orleans produced $18,203,578 in gross gaming revenue in January, the audit said — a decline of about $7 million, or 28 percent, from December and a 2.7 percent drop from the same month a year earlier. The state received $5,520,548 in minimum daily payments from Caesars for January, and Caesars' fiscal-year-to-date adjusted gross receipts were reported at $145 million, up about $5 million, or 4 percent, year over year.

Racetrack slots: The state's four racetrack facilities generated combined adjusted gross receipts of $23,360,487 in January, down about $3 million (11.4 percent) from December but up 2.8 percent from January 2024; the state collected $3.5 million in state fees from racetrack slots for the month. Fiscal-year-to-date adjusted gross receipts for racetracks were reported at $176 million, a 1 percent increase year over year.

Video gaming and sports wagering: The audit reported 12,005 activated video-gaming devices at 1,394 licensed locations; net device revenue for January was $57,730,019, down about 9.4 percent from December but up 0.5 percent from January 2024. Franchise fees for January totaled $17.5 million, with $129.5 million collected fiscal year to date. Retail sports books accepted roughly $27.9 million in wagers in January, producing net proceeds of $2.6 million and $174,000 in state taxes; mobile books accepted about $355 million in wagers with net proceeds of $38.3 million and $5.7 million in state taxes. Daily fantasy sports gross revenue was reported at just over $1 million, with net revenue of $135,400 and taxes of $10,800.

Clarifying details: Jackson noted calendar effects and month-over-month volatility. No policy actions were proposed from the revenue report — the presentation was informational.

Board questions came later in the meeting on related labor topics addressed during license renewals, but Jackson's report itself did not prompt board action or a vote.