Multiple poker tables are filled at Hollywood Casino in Lawrenceburg, Ind., on Sept. 12, 2009.(Photo: Amie Dworecki, Cincinnnati Enquirer)

Story Highlights

• Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati was the state's 5th casino but the first in southwest Ohio
• It is located in a central part of the city
• Indiana's riverboat casinos are 25, 40 or 50 miles away

CINCINNATI — Southeast Indiana casinos have slashed slot machines as competition has increased from Ohio casinos.

The region's three riverboat casinos have cut back 1 of 8 slot machines since Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati opened in March in the heart of the metro area of more than 2.1 million people, according to Indiana Gaming Commission data.

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Hollywood Casino Lawrenceburg about 25 miles west of Cincinnati; Belterra Casino Resort about 50 miles southwest in Florence, Ind.; and Rising Star Casino Resort about 40 miles southwest in Rising Sun, Ind., collectively cut more than 600 slot machines since February and are down to 4,800. Slot machines are down 14.4% since October 2012 when the riverboats had almost 5,700 machines.

The revelation comes as regional competition will heat up even further: Miami Valley Gaming is opening a racino with 1,600 video slots Thursday in Lebanon, Ohio, between Cincinnati and Dayton with another 850,000 residents in its metro area. Combined with Horseshoe's 2,000 slots and the riverboats, the region will have almost 8,500 slot machines.

The competition will keep coming as Belterra Park — the former River Downs racetrack — will open another 1,600-video slot racino in May in Cincinnati along Interstate 275 near the Ohio River.

Southeast Indiana casinos are hurting from the new Ohio competition: They reported $34.1 million in gambling revenue during November, down 28.3% from the same month a year ago. During the nine months that Cincinnati's casino has been operating, total revenues have dropped 28.6% to $338.2 million.

Attendance at Southeast Indiana casinos is also down 23.8% to 329,000 visits in November and down 25.2% to 3.4 million visits from March through November. Nearly 1.2 million fewer visitors have gone to southeast Indiana casinos in the past nine months, compared with the same time period a year ago.