BATON ROUGE (AP) — Gamblers lost more than $234.8 million at Louisiana's 20 major gambling venues in December, a combined year-over-year increase of 14.4 percent.
Much of that gain came from the addition of a third riverboat in Lake Charles, which draws many of its customers from Texas.
State police reported Tuesday Baton Rouge riverboat casino receipts totaled nearly $22.85 million in December.
The state's biggest bucks came from Lake Charles' three riverboat casinos last month. Those receipts totaled $72 million, which was 59 percent more than was collected in December 2013 when Lake Charles only had two riverboat casinos.
Louisiana's 15 riverboats collected $172.7 million in December, which was 20.7 percent higher than combined collections for December 2013.
The Advocate’s Bill Lodge reports the state's four horse tracks pulled in another $31.77 million in December.
