Hoping for Black Jack and slot machines to provide a much-needed cash infusion into the city’s shrinking revenues?
Don’t bet on it for this fiscal year.
Casino revenues have dipped 33 percent since last year, according to the latest figures provided to the Greenville City Council by council financial consultant Steve Osso.
The average monthly gaming revenue for the city has been $136,196 for this fiscal which ends Oct. 1.
The average for last fiscal year was $203,877, according to Osso’s report that was presented at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
And it’s not just the economy that’s causing the decline. A big chunk of the city’s gaming revenue has been lost to the county.
Harlow’s Casino Resort and Hotel, the newest casino kid on the block — located outside city limits — has sucked market share from Jubilee and Lighthouse Point casinos, said Tom Dashiell, Harlow’s assistant general manager.
The other two gambling houses are located at the Cityfront on Lake Ferguson.
According to state and county tax structure, Greenville and Washington County share a four percent tax on casinos within Greenville and outside of it.
Of that four percent of casino profits, Greenville gets two thirds from casinos within the city, while the county gets one third. For those casinos outside the city, Greenville gets one third of the four percent and the county gets two thirds.
Because Harlow’s is locate outside the county, Greenville only makes revenue on one third of four percent of its profits.
Unfortunately for Greenville, but to the county’s benefit, Harlow’s, which opened in 2007, now has 60 percent of the casino market share within the county, Dashiell said.
Harlow’s, however, may likely have new competition, as plans for a downtown Delta Blues Casino are underway.
“They say more casinos are coming down,” Dashiell said, “which means our slice of the apple may be getting thinner.”
As of April, casino revenues had decreased in Mississippi by 7.9 percent.
Representatives of Jubilee an Lighthouse Point did not return calls from the DDT.
