Shreveport, Bossier casinos are seeing a rough start to 2026 | Business

The casino numbers are in for the first three months of 2026 and they’re a mixed bag for Shreveport-Bossier casinos and Louisiana Downs.

Last year was a record year for gambling across the U.S., and one that saw a 10.4% increase in Louisiana’s gaming take.

According to the American Gaming Association, revenue made at traditional casinos, sports betting and through legal internet gaming jumped more than 9% in 2025, topping $78 billion nationwide.

Louisiana casinos, racetracks, sportsbooks, and other land-based gambling halls contributed $3.05B of that. Louisiana state government and municipalities scored, too. $668.8M, or roughly 27.5% of the gaming revenue went to the state and parishes in the form of taxes.

A closer look at 2025

One reason for Louisiana’s 2025 bounce was the addition of the state’s 20^th casino. Live! Louisiana in Bossier City came online in mid-February of 2025, quickly taking its place as one of northwest Louisiana’s top three properties.

Douglas White, an economist and head of the Center for Business and Economic Research at LSUS says the top three in Shreveport-Bossier are dominant.

“When I look at the data, the first takeaway I see is that, you know, basically it’s dominated by Margaritaville, Live! and Horseshoe. Margaritaville has about 26% of the market, then Live! and Horseshoe have about 21% each of the market. So, you know, we have 3 big players there, and then Bally’s is in there at 15% and then the rest are really, they’re just kind of there.”

There were other reasons for the bump in Louisiana’s overall state numbers. Other than Live!, there are now four south Louisiana casinos that have moved from boat to land side. In addition, Caesar’s Palace in downtown New Orleans invested $435 million in a major overhaul before the 2025 Super Bowl, which helped lead to their 19% jump in revenue.

The Lake Charles market continues to lead the pack in the state, and elsewhere. According to the AGA, Lake Charles is the 14^th largest market in the U.S., just ahead of Memphis, Kansas, and downtown Las Vegas. Lake Charles alone is responsible for $890M of the state’s $3.05B casino revenue in 2025. 

Live! is the 2026 bright star

Shreveport-Bossier properties have made more in cumulative revenue — $155,417,388 in 2026 compared to $151,234,111 in 2025 — but much of that can be attributed to Live’s $34,307,220 take January through March.

“I think that’s still a positive because it says the market has at least grown,” White said. “They’re not just cannibalizing each other and fighting over the same markets.”

White says if inflation hits 4%, things may change in terms of what people might be able to spend on gaming.

Prediction markets are making an impact

AGA says “illegal gaming;” referring in part to prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket, is becoming a bigger and more expensive problem. In fact, AGA calls the prediction markets, “the most pressing policy concern of state regulators and law enforcement officials in 2025…”

The organization believes prediction markets and offshore sportsbooks, illegal online casinos and other unregulated gaming devices are pulling in more than $53B  each year, which translates to $15B in lost tax revenue.

White said he wonders if players who start in prediction markets might — at some point — “get normalized to gambling” and move over to casino play.

“I wonder if they’re (prediction markets) gonna contribute to, I’ve heard this phrase, the gamification or tokenization of our economy, and so if you get used to gambling on who’s going to win the election or are we going to bomb Iran again or whatever, if you get used to gambling on that, why not go to the casino?”

The Shreveport-Bossier market

For January, February, and March in 2026, local market revenue looked like this:  

Margaritaville [Bossier City]- $38,762,309

Horseshoe [Bossier City]- $35,214,974

Live! Louisiana [Bossier City] – $ 34,307,220

Bally’s [Shreveport]- $16,626,481

Boomtown [Bossier City]- $9,198,452

Sam’s Town [Shreveport]- $8,205,613

Louisiana Downs [Bossier City]- $8,812,074

Year to date over 2025, revenues are only up for Horseshoe and Live!, which did not log a full initial year in 2025.  

“I think the future is on land,” said White of the existing local riverboat casinos. He wonders if the upcoming Bally’s purchase of Sam’s Town is a step toward that.

“I think the boats are on their way out and so I’m curious if they move Sam’s Town on land or Bally’s on land or, if they bought one to keep open while they move the other on land. I have a hard time believing they keep both of them open, but I have nothing to back that up on.”