South Dakota Deadwood casino gaming handle down 13% in April
The South Dakota Commission on Gaming has reported that Deadwood’s casino visitors wagered $101.4m in April.
US.- According to a monthly report from the South Dakota Commission on Gaming, visitors to Deadwood’s casinos wagered $101.4m in April. That’s a drop of 13 per cent from the same month last year. It’s the second month in a row Deadwood’s casinos experienced a downturn in their gaming handle.
March’s handle was down 6.52 per cent year-on-year. So far in 2022, Deadwood’s casinos have seen a 1.55 per cent decrease against 2021.
Gamblers wagered more than $94.7m on slot machines, $6.3m on table games and $368,516 on sports bets, which became legal at Deadwood casinos in September 2021. Slots machines saw a decrease of 13.7 per cent compared to April 2021 via Deadwood’s 2,566 machines. Deadwood’s 87 table games saw a 7.2 per cent decrease year-on-year.
The casinos had a taxable adjusted gross income of just over $9.1m in April, with $820,661.88 in taxes due to various state, county and local government entities.
See also: Dakota Sioux Casino is latest in South Dakota to offer sports betting
Mobile sports betting bills fails in South Dakota
In March, the House State Affairs Committee voted 10-3 against Senate Joint Resolution 502, which proposed a constitutional amendment to broaden the state’s gambling rules to allow sports wagers to be placed through electronic devices.
Supporters of the legislation argued that South Dakota is missing out on millions of dollars in revenue by continuing to prohibit online sports wagering. Despite the senate committee’s rejection of the proposal, supporters are optimistic about the chances of a citizen-led ballot initiative if lawmakers don’t continue to oppose mobile sports wagering.
Governor Kristi Noem’s administration opposes the proposal as does the Family Heritage Alliance. For now, the city of Deadwood is the only territory in South Dakota to offer legal gambling. Sports betting has been allowed in Deadwood since 2020 but players must be at a Deadwood casino.