LIMA — Allen County Commissioners say casino revenue is down about $50,000 compared to last year and well below the amount it was promised.
A report released Tuesday by the Allen County Auditor’s Office shows casino revenue fell from $1,264,157 in 2014 to $1,218,610 in 2015, a 3.6 percent decrease.
“We appreciate a great deal to have those dollars, but they are nowhere near where we were told they’d be,” Allen County Commissioner Cory Noonan said. “The trend seems to be that those numbers will continue to go down.”
Noonan said this is especially concerning considering Allen County depends heavily on casino money for capital improvement projects.
Despite the decrease, this year’s casino revenue is still $18,610 above the $1.2 million the commissioners budgeted for 2015. Noonan said this year’s casino money will help fund roof replacements at the justice center, courthouse and children’s services building, as well as fixing or removing the clock tower from the courthouse. While those are the major capital improvement projects, Noonan said the money will also be used for daily maintenance issues that range from $5 to $50,000.
Casino money is placed in the capital improvement fund instead of the general fund, Noonan said, because relying on those dollars for operating costs would be too risky.
“We have no direct control over what these revenues are, so to put those into the operations budget would be a very risky venture because we don’t know what they’re going to be every year,” he said.
Noonan said he believes the decline in casino revenue is due in part to the addition of racinos that feature slot machines at the race track.
“That’s pulling people away from the four casinos,” he said.
Ohio’s four casinos brought in more than $66 million in August, down from nearly $71 million in the same month last year, according to a report from the Ohio Casino Control Commission. The report also showed that total revenue for the casinos last month was down from more than $69 million in July.
