Deadwood casinos see slump for second straight month
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For the second month in a row, Deadwood's casinos experienced a downturn in gaming handle in April, the South Dakota Commission on Gaming reported Monday, bringing calendar year results, so far, to a lower amount than last year.
According to the report, April's gaming handle decreased by more than 13% when compared to April 2021. This follows a decrease in March's handle, which was down 6.52%. So far in 2022, Deadwood's casinos have seen a 1.55% decrease over the same time frame in 2021, the report showed.
In April, gamblers put more than $94.7 million in slot machines, $6.3 million in chip purchases for table games, and $368,516 in sports bets. In all, visitors to Deadwood's casinos spent more than $101 million on wagers and chip purchases in April.
Last month, Deadwood Gaming Association Executive Director Mike Rodman said the casinos are experience the effects of the national economic downturn — a trend that has shown in April's results, too.
Slot machine handle saw the largest decrease for the second-straight month. The decrease was 13.73% lower than April 2021 on Deadwood's 2,566 machines. So far for the year, slot machine handle is down by more than 2%.
Deadwood's 87 table games saw a 7.2% decrease when compared to April 2021, the report showed, and are down by 3.56% year-to-date.
Sports wagering included $368,516.80 in April's handle and a statistical loss for gamblers of $13,734.55. It is the first time that sports gamblers did not receive a statistical win since the wagering was legalized last year. Most bets were placed on NCAA men's basketball, followed by Major League Baseball.
The casinos had a taxable adjusted gross income of just over $9.1 million in April, with $820,661,88 in taxes due to various state, county and local government entities.
Through the first four months of 2022, gamblers in Deadwood have spent more than $451 million on wagers and chip purchases, a decrease of 1.55% when compared to 2021.
So far in 2022, slot machines handled more than $421 million, a 2.08% decrease over the same time period in 2021. Table games saw just over $27 million in chip purchases, also a decrease over 2021. Sports wagering year-to-date is more than $2.8 million.
The report showed casinos rewarded players with more than $1.2 million in "free play" during March.
