CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia Lottery director John Musgrave said the water-contamination emergency led to a dip in revenues.
Musgrave said Thursday lottery officials were compiling the final numbers but the Mardis Gras Casino in Kanawha County and the locations with Limited Video Lottery machines in all nine counties took a hit while the do-not-use water order was in effect.
Mardis Gras endured water issues that were related to both the contamination emergency—which began Jan. 9 with a chemical spill on the Elk River—and the polar vortex that created sub-zero temps a few days before the spill.
“They had some revenue losses,” Musgrave said.
Community bars and Hotspot-like businesses licensed to operate video lottery machines also took a hit.
Musgrave said Thursday he’ll know soon how much money was lost.
“We’ll compare those days with the days of the previous months and kind of get an idea of what the loss will be,” he said.
December revenue numbers released by the Lottery Thursday show Racetrack Video Lottery dropped another $6 million from December 2012 revenue. Racetrack Video Lottery was down approximately $30 million this fiscal year.
The financial numbers show Limited Video Lottery and Table Games revenues were also down $10 million each so far this budget year.
The lottery reported $664 million in revenues through the first six months of the previous budget year, while this year total revenues stand at $612 million.