October saw a slight decline for Missouri casino revenue compared to September.
The 13 casinos operating on riverboats in the state reported $154,384,093 in total revenue last month, a 2.2% decline from the Missouri September casino revenue figure of about $157.8 million.
The October figure was also down 4.7% in a year-over-year comparison to October 2021, when the state had $162 million in combined casino revenue.
Still, the Show-Me State maintained a record pace for a fiscal year.
Through four months of the 2022-23 fiscal year, starting on July 1, the casinos have combined for about $642.58 million. From July to October last year, they stood at $634.15 million, a 1.3% increase, and the 2021-22 period saw Missouri break a fiscal year record for revenue at $1.9 billion.
October Casino Revenue Analysis for Missouri
The leading individual casino last month in Missouri was Ameristar St. Charles in St. Louis. The facility reported almost $24.468 million in revenue for October, according to the Missouri Gaming Commission. That total, including about $19.4 million in adjusted gaming revenue (AGR) from slot machines, was almost identical to September’s $24.481 million.
Another pair of St. Louis casinos rounded out the top three in the state, as River City had about $21 million and Hollywood Casinos reported $19.26 million.
Ameristar Kansas City topped the standings in that market with $16.27 million in October revenue. Argosy had $14.65 million to claim the runnerup spot in Kansas City.
Among the five “out-market” casinos in Missouri — those apart from the St. Louis and Kansas City metro areas — the Isle of Capri Casino in Boonville was tops with $7.66 million.
Of the October revenue, $29.1 million went toward statewide education funding.
Sports Betting and the 2022 Election
Did this week’s midterm elections have an impact on efforts to make Missouri sportsbooks a reality?
It’s hard to tell.
Republicans maintained control of both chambers of the legislature in the Show-Me State. But predominant party ideology often is not a reliable barometer for a state’s appetite toward sports gambling, or its ability to make the practice legal. Conservative Tennessee and swing state Virginia have online-only sports betting markets, and states that often lean left in elections such as New York and Colorado have thriving sports wagering scenes. (Our generalizations of political leanings here mostly apply to voting in presidential and statewide races.)
Texas faces a lot of obstacles to ever get a legal, regulated market launched — but so does California, where two measures that would have legalized sports betting were walloped at the ballot box this week.
Getting back to Missouri, efforts in the state legislature failed in 2022 and one reason was that video gaming terminals got tied into sports betting legislation. A last-ditch effort to get a sports betting bill considered in a special session in the fall didn’t gain much traction.
Earlier this year, the Missouri House passed HB-2502 easily, 115-33, but the legislation related to wagering on sports could not get past the Senate. State Senator Denny Hoskins introduced a proposal to legalize both VGTs and sports betting and opposition to VGTs was seen as a major part of the bill’s failure; Hoskins was not up for re-election this fall.
