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Missouri, Illinois Casinos Set Records for March11 April 2002MISSOURI – As reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "Five weekends, two holidays and generally good weather conditions helped to make March the richest month for casinos in Missouri and Illinois. "Gamblers left behind $114.4 million in Missouri and $166.4 million in Illinois last month. That's nearly 11 percent more than previous Missouri record and 5 percent more than the previous Illinois record, both of which were set in March 2001. "The resilience of casinos in a dreary economy isn't surprising, said Craig Travers, general manager of the Casino Queen in East St. Louis. "… His casino broke out of a flat-revenue spell and set a new monthly record, as did three other St. Louis-area casinos. "…Also, his casino decided to go against the industry trend of increasing reliance on slot machines. Instead, the Queen added 40 gaming positions for table play, such as poker and craps. "It raised the maximum amount that players can bet per hand in some games, to $2,000 from $1,000. As a result, table-game revenue was up $800,000, compared with March 2001. "Travers said he made the moves to take advantage of no loss limit in Illinois. But in Missouri, gamblers can buy no more than $500 in table-game chips or slot-machine tokens during a two-hour gaming session. "…Overall, local gamblers left behind $71.8 million, 3.3 percent more than in the previous record-breaking month of March 2001…" |