Rhode Island slots revenue takes a beating

In Rhode Island, online slots players and land-casino gamblers, are learning that the state's thriving casino gambling industry is showing its first signs of a slow period.

For many years, slot machines at Lincoln Park and Newport Grand have seen double-digit growth. But as it stands, even though  while the machines are still very profitable, they are not producing the same effort needed, and that could have a grave effect for the state.

The 2005 Rhode Island state budget is established on the theory that slot earnings would increase by over 15%. But, the information produced on Wednesday by the Rhode Island Lottery shows that since the start of the fiscal year on July 1, there has been just over a 4% hike.

The news comes just as Lincoln Park today brings on line 600 new slot machines on its second floor. The added units are the first of 1,750 machines authorized by the General Assembly and Governor Carcieri in July and bring Lincoln Park to 3,602 total slots, about half of what Foxwoods Resort Casino has.

Lincoln Park officials would not say why their pace of expansion had slowed down.