Only the recently expanded Belterra Casino Resort near Florence enjoyed an increase in August gaming win over a year ago, according to figures released this week by the Indiana Gaming Commission.

Win, also known as gross gaming revenue, is actual gamblers' losses at slot machines and table games. It's the amount of money a casino collects before paying taxes, payroll and other costs.

Belterra collected win of $13.3 million, a 5.4 percent jump over August 2003. It also pushed Belterra's 2004 year-to-date win total ahead of Rising Sun's Grand Victoria Resort Casino, making Belterra the second highest-grossing casino in the area.

Belterra collected more win than Grand Victoria each of the past four months since completing a $35 million expansion May 1 anchored by a new hotel tower. The expansion also included a conference center and a new restaurant, Jeff Ruby's at Belterra.

Argosy Casino & Hotel in Lawrenceburg in August picked up $37.9 million from gamblers, a 1.4 percent drop from a year ago.

Grand Victoria's August win total of $12.1 million last month was an 8.3 percent decline from the year before.

The three riverboat casinos combined collected August win of $63.3 million, a year-over-year drop of 1.5 percent from August 2003. Despite the one-month decline, the three casinos have posted an 8.4 percent gain in win so far this year.

Belterra general manager Larry Buck said area casinos benefited from five weekends in August 2003 compared with four weekends of gambling last month. Also, the popular Labor Day weekend that attracts throngs of gamblers partly fell in August a year ago; this year, it landed the first week of September.

In related news, Argosy Gaming Co. officials are still mum on details of a planned expansion of up to $150 million that would add new gambling space, hotel rooms and parking at the riverboat casino.

The company said in July that it would nail down details of the expansion by the end of September, but Argosy general manager Larry Kinser said Monday that no final plan has been approved by the company's board of directors. The casino will be aided by a city of Lawrenceburg tax credit that could return $50 million to the casino over 10 years.

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E-mail kalltucker@enquirer.com