Louisiana Casino Revenue Falls 6.4% to $201m in August, Lake Charles Down 8.8%

State Police figures released at Thursday's Gaming Control Board meeting show the 15 riverboats, Caesars New Orleans and the four racinos all down on August 2025, with 13 of the 15 boats losing ground. Mobile sports betting handle rose 3.6% to $261m and produced $31.1m of net proceeds; retail books fell by almost half. Only Baton Rouge grew, and only because Bally's moved onto land.

• Louisiana's casinos won $201.0m in August, down 6.4% from $214.8m a year earlier and 5.4% below July, according to the Louisiana State Police monthly activity summaries for riverboats, land-based gaming and slots at racetracks published on 17 September
• Riverboat adjusted gross revenue was $151.0m, down 6.1%; Caesars New Orleans, the holder of the state's only land-based licence, took $24.0m, down 6.9%; the four racetrack slot operations won $25.9m, down 7.8%
• Lake Charles, the market that serves Houston, fell 8.8% to $73.2m: Golden Nugget lost 12.9% to $23.6m, L'Auberge 4.5% to $28.7m, Horseshoe 9.7% to $6.9m and Delta Downs 9.8% to $14.0m
• Shreveport-Bossier fell 8.4% to $47.3m, with Horseshoe Bossier City down 14.1% and Sam's Town down 29.1%; Live! Casino, open since February 2025, slipped 1.1% to $10.5m
• Baton Rouge rose 3.2% to $23.3m only because Bally's Baton Rouge, which moved from a riverboat to a land-based facility, won $5.3m against $0.7m a year earlier; The Queen fell 25.7% and L'Auberge Baton Rouge 12.9%
• Mobile sports betting handle was $260.7m, up 3.6%, for $31.1m of net proceeds (up 2.8%) and $6.7m of tax; retail handle fell 41.8% to $11.4m and net proceeds 47.5% to $1.7m; video gaming terminals in bars, truck stops and restaurants won $67.1m, up 2.7%

Every District but One

The August report is the second month of Louisiana's 2026-27 fiscal year, and it makes the first look like an outlier. Riverboat revenue for July and August together is $310.6m, down 0.4% on the same two months of 2025, which means July was up about 5.6% and August wiped that out. Admissions at the 15 boats were 1.44 million for the month.

Lake Charles is the story. The district's four properties depend on Texas drive-in traffic and won $73.2m, down $7.1m on August 2025. Golden Nugget Lake Charles gave up almost $3.5m of year-on-year revenue on its own. L'Auberge, the largest casino in the state, held up better at $28.7m, and was the only Lake Charles property to beat its July figure. Delta Downs, the racino at Vinton, lost 9.8%.

Shreveport-Bossier, which serves Dallas-Fort Worth, was down 8.4% to $47.3m. Margaritaville stayed on top at $12.1m, down 3.7%, and Live! Casino, the newest property in the state, was down 1.1% at $10.5m in its second summer. Horseshoe Bossier City lost 14.1% and Sam's Town, the smallest boat in the market, lost 29.1% to $2.3m.

New Orleans was down 5.2% to $50.9m across Caesars New Orleans, Treasure Chest, Boomtown, Amelia Belle and the Fair Grounds slots. Caesars, the land-based property that completed a $435m renovation in 2024, fell 6.9% to $24.0m, though its fiscal-year-to-date revenue is still 6% ahead of last year. Treasure Chest, which moved onto land in 2024, was down 1.5%.

Baton Rouge is the exception, and an artificial one. Bally's Baton Rouge, which relocated from its riverboat to a land-based casino at the same site, won $5.3m against $0.7m in August 2025, when it was in the middle of the move. Strip that out and the district's other two properties, The Queen and L'Auberge Baton Rouge, were down 25.7% and 12.9% respectively.

Sports Betting Grows Slowly, Video Poker Keeps Growing

Mobile sportsbooks took $260.7m in wagers in August, up 3.6% on a year earlier, and kept $31.1m after $0.96m of promotional deductions, a hold of 11.9%. Tax paid was $6.7m. Parlays produced $20.1m of the net, baseball $2.9m and football, before the season proper, $1.5m. Retail sportsbooks, which are being emptied by the apps, wrote $11.4m of bets, down 41.8%, and kept $1.7m.

Video gaming, the state's network of 12,863 terminals in 1,356 bars, restaurants, truck stops and off-track betting parlours, won $67.1m, up 2.7% on August 2025 and 4.8% ahead for the fiscal year to date. Truck stops account for $48.7m of that.

The Texas Border Is Doing the Damage

The two districts that fell hardest are the two that live on Texans. Lake Charles and Shreveport-Bossier between them lost $11.4m of year-on-year revenue in August; New Orleans, which draws on tourism and a local market, lost $2.8m. Louisiana's casino model has always been a bet that Texas will not legalise, and that bet still pays, but the volume coming over the border is softening faster than the in-state market.

Land Beats Water, Which Is Why Everyone Is Moving

Bally's Baton Rouge is the latest Louisiana boat to come ashore since the 2018 law allowed it, after Horseshoe Lake Charles, Treasure Chest and Live! Casino in Bossier City, and its 661% jump is the argument for the rest. The state now has a two-tier riverboat market: properties that have rebuilt on land and are holding revenue, and boats that have not and are losing it at double-digit rates. Sam's Town, a Boyd property, and Caesars' Horseshoe Bossier City are the ones the numbers point at.

Sports Betting Is Not the Offset

A 3.6% rise in mobile handle and $31.1m of net proceeds do not cover a $13.8m fall in casino win. Louisiana taxes mobile sports betting and riverboat gaming at the same 21.5%, so the state's take from the apps in August, $6.7m, is a fraction of what it lost from the floors. The video poker network, up 2.7%, is doing more to hold state revenue than the sportsbooks are.

Louisiana won $201m in August. A year ago it won $215m. The difference is mostly sitting in Texas.