Farewell Vegas! Hallo Local Casino as airfares increase.

Ameristar Casinos own and manage 8 casinos in the US including 1 in St Charles. Las Vegas which is “the” gambling destination, will have a rough time in the coming months due to the ever rising fuel price, making local casinos more attractive.

Chief Executive Gordon Kanofsky has been quoted as saying that Las Vegas and other destination-type casinos which markets with airlines will probably have a more difficult time in the current market situation. He believes everyone is affected by the economic downturn and he is happy that most of his casinos are in the Midwest.

Casinos on the Vegas Strip have experienced a downturn in revenues for the 4th straight month in a row, gamblers are having to cut back on nonessentials such as entertainment and travel. Missouri Gaming Commission reported that the Ameristar in St Charles had a 0.5% increase in revenue during April and saw an increase of 8% in May when compared with May 2007. The recent opening of the downtown casino Lumi?re Place further boosted their coffers.

In an effort to cope with rising fuel costs, airlines have cut flights to Las Vegas. This has in turn affected visitor traffic and revenue coming in to Las Vegas, the largest gambling center in the US. Airlines have been forced to impose surcharges, lower seat capacity and stop services to some flight destinations since the cost of jet fuel has increased by 83% in the previous year.

Ameristar believes with prudent management of its capital and creative marketing, it will weather the current economic slowdown and still be in a better position on the balance sheet than most other companies.