With the glitzy grand opening of Northwest Indiana’s newest casino in the mix halfway through the month, the Region’s four gaming operations posted a 24% jump in revenues in May compared to the same month in 2019.

The casinos were closed in May 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana in Gary opened its doors to the public on May 14, following a VIP preview the previous night and a guitar-smash grand opening event earlier in the day on May 14, both of which featured a number of musical celebrities, including Marlon and Tito Jackson of the Jackson 5 group.

The Jackson family is from Gary and still owns its home there.

The Hard Rock Casino Northern Indiana replaced the two Majestic Star Casinos in Gary’s Buffington Harbor.

According to the monthly statistics released Friday by the Indiana Gaming Commission, the Region’s four casinos took in a total of $97.7 million last month, compared to $78.7 million in May 2019.

While both Ameristar Casino in East Chicago and Horseshoe Hammond posted revenue gains, Blue Chip Casino is Michigan City had a 5.3% revenue drop. Ameristar took in $26.6 million in revenues last month compared to $21.1 million in May 2019, up 26%, while Horseshoe Hammond raked in $38 million last month compared to $31.3 million, a 21.4% hike.

Blue Chip brought in $12.5 million compared to $13.2 million, according to the IGC report. Hard Rock Northern Indiana raked in $20.6 million in the two weeks, soaring 57.3% higher than the $13.1 million its predecessors, Majestic Star I and Majestic Star II, took in combined in May 2019.

“There are a whole lot of questions and zero answers,” Indiana gaming analyst Ed Feigenbaum said of the report.

He pointed out that the Majestic Star Casinos had closed before the Hard Rock Casino opened, leaving no casino in operation in Gary for two weeks in May. “We don’t know when Ameristar and Horseshoe Hammond brought in their revenues,” said Feigenbaum, editor of Indiana Gaming Insight.

On the other hand, Feigenbaum said Hard Rock had a very strong two weeks.

“If you double that, it would be more revenues than Horseshoe had,” he said.

He said there always are people

trying out a new casino; whether they are consistent players will be determined in the next months or in a year.

Feigenbaum said revenues at the Rivers Casino in Illinois also rose substantially in May.

He said the increases could be due to the fact that a lot of the restrictions placed on casinos during the pandemic were lifted in late April, early May. “People felt more comfortable going out. There was some pent up demand, particularly in the first half of May,” he said.

Feigenbaum also noted that casinos didn’t have much competition in the entertainment sector at that time, with sports facilities and movie theaters still at a limited capacity.

While capacity was also limited at casinos, the much larger structures could hold more people and still be within the limits.

Karen Caffarini is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.