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Business wasn’t exactly booming in the Missouri casino market this past month, but it held steady year on year in a month when states across the country saw yearly and monthly casino revenue declines.
Missouri casinos generated $154.7 million in June, virtually matching revenue from June 2023. Monthly revenue dipped 5% as casinos struggled to keep pace with May numbers, according to the latest data from the Missouri Gaming Commission.
Key takeaways
- Legalizing Missouri online casinos could generate more than $70 million in monthly revenue.
- Casino revenue held steady year on year but fell 5.1% compared to May.
- One casino, St. Joseph Frontier Casino, saw monthly revenue increase in June.
- Four casinos have better revenue numbers this fiscal year than they did at the same point in FY2023.
Update on Missouri online casinos
No discussion of land-based casinos is complete without talking about online casinos. Ideally, states would allow both, a move that generated significant tax revenue and boost casinos’ income. However, states have been slow to adopt iGaming amid fears it will cut into land-based casino revenue and increase problem gambling rates.
To date, only seven states have active online casino markets, led by Pennsylvania, Michigan, and New Jersey. Those three states consistently combined for more than $500 million in monthly revenue.
Will Missouri be the eighth state to welcome online casinos? Probably not. States in the post-2018 gaming environment typically legalize online sports betting first, then push for online casinos. While that process hasn’t been an issue in some states, it’s been a huge hurdle in Missouri as lawmakers consistently botch attempts to legalize online sports betting.
As such, we’re likely two or three years away from seeing Missouri online casinos, which is a shame considering the revenue potential iGaming could bring to the Show Me State. Based on averages from the seven states with online casinos, PlayUSA projects that Missouri could generate as much as $75 million in monthly iGaming revenue.
| State | May online casino revenue | Population (according to 2023 Census Bureau data) | Per-capita revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pennsylvania | $216.5 million | 13 million | $16.65 |
| Michigan | $198.6 million | 10 million | $19.86 |
| New Jersey | $192.1 million | 9.3 million | $20.65 |
| Connecticut | $46.3 million | 3.6 million | $12.86 |
| West Virginia | $17.9 million | 1.8 million | $9.94 |
| Delaware | $3.9 million | 1 million | $3.90 |
| Rhode Island | $2.3 million | 1.1 million | $2.09 |
| Average | $79.8 million | 6.5 million | $12.27 |
| Missouri (projected) | $76.1 million | 6.2 million | $12.27 |
Missouri land-based casinos fall behind month-on-month but keep pace with 2023 numbers
Monthly revenue numbers dipped 5.1% in June, receding more than $8 million from May’s win of $163 million.
While casinos in several markets struggled to keep up with monthly revenue totals, Missouri’s 13 properties managed to hold steady year on year, falling just $300,000 (-0.2%).
June revenue was hit hard by double-digit losses from Isle of Capri Booneville, Harrah’s Kansas City, Horseshoe St. Louis, and Mark Twain Casino.
St. Joseph Frontier Casino was the only property to see revenue rise, albeit just 0.5%.
| July 2024 | Year-on-Year % Change | June 2024 | Month-on-Month % Change | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argosy | $13,370,134 | -11% | $14,145,264 | -5.48% |
| Isle of Capri Booneville | $6,681,619 | -18% | $6,446,220 | 3.65% |
| Century Casino Caruthersville | $3,867,138 | -1% | $3,844,776 | 0.58% |
| Hollywood Casino St. Louis | $20,559,621 | -8% | $20,655,177 | -0.46% |
| Harrah's Kansas City | $12,724,515 | -17% | $12,557,598 | 1.33% |
| Century Casino Cape Girardeau | $5,846,004 | -7% | $5,927,678 | -1.38% |
| Bally's Kansas City | $11,754,334 | 9% | $11,152,546 | 5.40% |
| Horseshoe St. Louis | $11,941,117 | -15% | $10,993,465 | 8.62% |
| Ameristar Kansas City | $16,833,897 | -5% | $16,338,393 | 3.03% |
| River City Casino | $20,675,628 | -7% | $20,972,197 | -1.41% |
| Mark Twain Casino | $2,829,692 | -11% | $2,822,935 | 0.24% |
| Ameristar St. Charles | $24,087,952 | -6% | $24,811,884 | -2.92% |
| St. Joseph Frontier Casino | $4,020,687 | 3% | $4,070,030 | -1.21% |
| Total | $155,192,338 | -8% | $154,738,164 | 0.29% |
Positives to take away from June Missouri casino revenue
The news wasn’t all bad last month, though. Casinos managed to keep pace with June 2023 even though the total number of customers entering casinos fell 2% year-on-year. Additionally, four casinos managed to keep year-to-date revenue numbers higher than they were at the same time last year:
- Century Caruthersville: Up 7% year-to-date
- Hollywood Casino St. Louis: Up 1% year-to-date
- Century Casino Cape Girardeau: Up 2% year-to-date
- Bally’s Kansas City: Up 6% year-to-date
