SIOUX CITY | Gamblers left behind nearly $7.2 million at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sioux City in its first month, according to a state report released Friday.
The Hard Rock's adjusted gross revenues for August easily surpassed the comparable numbers for the floating casino the new downtown venue replaced, a Journal review of Iowa Racing and Gaming data shows.
In the 10 previous Augusts, the former Argosy Sioux City brought in between $3.9 million and $5.3 million. The high mark, which came in 2011, is 35 percent less than the Hard Rock's take for last month.
IRGC administrator Brian Ohorilko said the big bump in revenue is consistent with other Iowa markets that have transitioned from riverboats to land-based casinos with larger gaming floors and a wider array of amenities.
The Hard Rock's 30,000-square-foot casino floor boasts 839 slot machines and 25 table games. The $128 million venue, with a renovated Battery Building as the centerpiece, also features a 54-room hotel, four bars, three restaurants, a retail shop and two venues for concerts and other live entertainment.
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"We're definitely pleased with the figures that we've seen in the first month," Ohorilko told the Journal on Friday. "We're cautiously optimistic we'll continue to see those numbers."
"Some of it is due to the facility being new and people wanting to come and experience it and take a look at the new property," he added. "I would expect to see some decline as the newness wears off."
Mark Monson, president of Missouri River Historical Development, the Hard Rock's local nonprofit partner, was all smiles after learning of the first-month numbers from a Journal reporter late Friday afternoon.
"We are thrilled with the Hard Rock's performance," Monson said. "We had great expectations, but I think our expectations were far short of really what has gone on in the first month. I think we will see some phenomenal numbers for the first few months."
MRHD receives 4.25 percent of the Hard Rock revenues for distribution to local charitable and civic groups. For August, that amounts to about $304,000.
The Hard Rock's take last month topped the $5.4 million in revenue at its closest competitor, the Grand Falls Casino Resort in rural Lyon County, and the nearly $7 million at Harrah's Casino, the smallest of three casinos in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
More than 214,000 visitors entered the Hard Rock casino floor in August, according to the IRGC's monthly report for the state's casinos, doubling the admissions at both Grand Falls and Harrah's, which last year moved off the Missouri River.
Hard Rock patrons dropped an average of $33 on the casino floor, according to the IRGC report.
Larger-than-expected crowds for the opening weekend likely bolstered Hard Rock's overall attendance. More than 1,000 people crowded outside, waiting to get in on opening night, Aug. 1.
“They were six rows wide and down to Third Street on our Pearl Street entrance,” Hard Rock General Manager Todd Moyer said in an interview last month.
Moyer could not be immediately reached for comment Friday.
The August numbers, if duplicated over the next 11 months, would translate into first-year gross revenues of more than $86 million, close to the $90.5 million the Hard Rock developer, SCE Partners Inc., projected in its application for a state license.
The Argosy hit an all-time high of $61 million for the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2012. The floating casino's numbers steadily fell in subsequent years, as its future grew uncertain following a contractual fight in the summer of 2012 with its then-nonprofit, MRHD.
In August 2013, the IRGC awarded the license for Woodbury County's first land casino to the Hard Rock group, which beat out three other competitors, including Argosy parent Penn National Gaming Co. In the most recent fiscal year, which ended June 30, the Argosy took in $48 million.
The Argosy shut down July 30 after losing a court fight that attempted to overturn an IRGC closure order. The commission found the boat in violation of state law that requires that licensed nonprofits hold the casino licenses.