Gamblers lose $10.4 million during last year

Despite the state of the economy, residents in St. Charles Parish are still spending plenty of money on video gaming with $29.7 million going into the roughly 331 machines in the area in a 12-month period, according to statistics from the Louisiana State Police Gaming Enforcement Division.

The figures are based on the 2010 fiscal year, which began in July 2009 and ended in June 2010.

While there is a lot of money going into the video poker machines, only 65 percent is coming back out as winnings. This year, $19.3 million has been paid out in the parish, which equals $58,278 per machine. Still, with each machine taking in an average of $89,719, the odds are not in the residents’ favor.

The number of businesses offering video gaming machines has changed each quarter, but averages around 46. The net revenue of the 331 machines at those various businesses is $10.4 million, but each business must pay a franchise fee to the state, which works out to $2.8 million for all of the machines.

Averaged out, that means that each machine generates around $22,814 per year in net revenue.