Mountaineer owner's net down

MTR Gaming Group Inc., the parent company of Mountaineer Race Track and Gaming Resort in West Virginia, had net income of $7.7 million in 2005, down 46.9 percent from the company's 2004 net income of $14.5 million, according to financial documents released late Wednesday.

Revenue in 2005 was $349.9 million, compared with revenue of $309.9 million in 2004. Much of the revenue increase came from MTR's Binion's property in Las Vegas, which the company took over in March last year after a management contract with Harrah's Entertainment expired.

Mountaineer Race Track itself had net revenue of $284.7 million in 2005, compared with $291.5 million in 2004. In a release accompanying the financial documents, Mountaineer officials said that revenue was lower at the property because of increased competition in West Virginia and fewer customer visits because of increases in the price of gasoline.

For the fourth quarter of 2005, MTR had net income of $41,000, compared with net income of $2.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2004, according to the documents.