Like cagey riverboat gamblers accustomed to maintaining poker faces whether holding a royal flush or pair of deuces, those inside and out of the casino business are maintaining that all is well with the industry in Illinois.

1. 2007 2014 Indiana Gross Gaming Revenues $2,625 M $ 2,231 M Gaming Tax as a Share of General Fund 5.5% 3% Casino Employment 16,000 12,000 Casino Employee Wages $ 610 M $ 461 M.
2. We have not yet earned any commercial revenues. In October 2007, we sold 20,130,000 shares of common stock to private investors at $0.003 per share for gross proceeds of $61,000.

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Maybe they should start twitching.

The most recent Illinois Gaming Board figures, released Thursday, show a decline of 15.6 percent in total adjusted gross receipts--the casinos' take after paying winners--for boats in July compared with the same month last year.

Last month, the total adjusted gross receipts for Illinois' boats was $90.8 million, compared with $107.7 million for July 1995. Last month's figures also were 2.6 percent below June's total of $93.3 million.

The trend shows that total adjusted gross receipts for all 10 Illinois riverboat licenses have dropped in April, May, June and July. Those declines came after revenue increases in February and March, which followed a general decline over the previous seven months.

The reason for the nearly $17 million drop from July 1995 to July 1996, gambling experts say, is the strong showing from three boats in nearby northwest Indiana. The boats, two in Gary and one in Hammond, opened in June.

'I think there's a newness now in Indiana,' said Illinois Gaming Board spokeswoman Marianne Floriano, 'and that's going to have an effect, but I think we have to wait a number of months, not a number of weeks, to see what will happen. It's still a $90 million month, and that's a healthy industry.'

In addition, Floriano and industry analysts noted, July 1996 had one less weekend than July 1995, and the Olympics, which drew nearly as many TV viewers as the Persian Gulf war, discouraged people from visiting casinos.

The weather played a role, too, experts said. July 1995 brought a deadly heat wave to the Chicago area, which encouraged people to seek entertainment in air conditioning. Last month, the Chicago area was hit with disastrous rainfall and flooding that struck hardest in Joliet and Aurora, cities where two of the state's most successful riverboats operate.

Casino 1995 Gross Revenues

That disaster hampered the boats and knocked out many of their customers.

Still, the figures for July are dramatic, particularly for the boats in Joliet, which are closest to Indiana. The Joliet Empress' adjusted gross receipts totaled $10.7 million last month, or 40 percent less than the $17.8 million it collected in July 1995.

The Empress, however, is hedging its bets somewhat. The Hammond floating casino is owned by Empress.

Adjusted gross receipts for Harrah's Casino Joliet dropped more than 25 percent, or nearly $4.5 million, in July 1996 from the same month one year earlier.

'We anticipated that they would have an impact on us, and they have,' Harrah's spokeswoman Lorraine Nelson said of the Indiana boats. She declined to say whether Harrah's administrators anticipated the depth of the decline.

'It's still too early to tell what the long-term impact will be,' she added, 'but I think we'll come back.'

Only one Illinois riverboat posted a gain in July 1996 over the same month one year earlier: the Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin collected $19.9 million in adjusted gross receipts last month, compared with $18.7 million in July 1995.

Peter Simon, senior vice president for Grand Victoria owner Circus Circus Casinos, said that the presence of the Indiana boats was a unique disadvantage for boats in Joliet and Aurora.

The Illinois Gaming Board figures also reignited the debate over competitive advantages for boats in Indiana and Iowa. The casinos in Indiana remain dockside, a status that experts say can bring in 20 percent more revenue, while Iowa boats have modest cruising requirements.

'I'm optimistic about the future if the decline in numbers is viewed as a clarion call by the legislature,' said Adrienne Levatino, executive director of the Illinois Riverboat Gaming Council, a lobbying group for most of the state's casinos.

Casino Box Office

Levatino said a proposed tax increase for the casinos, discussed last spring by Gov. Jim Edgar, should be scrapped because it would hurt the riverboats' marketing efforts at a time when they need to compete against boats in Indiana, Iowa and Missouri. She also said the legislature should consider allowing Illinois boats to remain dockside.