New Jersey Casino Revenue Down Nearly 5 Percent
Atlantic City, NJ - (Associated Press) - Atlantic City’s casino revenue fell by nearly 5 percent in August, as gamblers won table games at a higher rate than usual.
The city’s 12 casinos took in $298.1 million, down 4.8 percent from August 2012.
Revenue from table games was $78.6 million, down 10.5 percent from a year ago. The state Division of Gaming Enforcement said the casinos fared worse at table games than they did a year ago.
Slot machine revenue was $219.5 million, down 2.6 percent.
Overall, nine of the 12 casinos saw revenue declines in August. The biggest was at Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City, down 18 percent to $32.8 million. The Tropicana Casino and Resort was down 17.8 percent to $21.4 million, and Trump Plaza, which its parent company is still trying to sell, was down 17.2 percent to $8.8 million.
Its sister property, the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort, was down 15.5 percent to $26.5 million.
The Showboat Casino Hotel was down 9.5 percent to $19.9 million; Bally’s Atlantic City was down 9.3 percent to $26 million; and the Golden Nugget Atlantic City was down 4.3 percent to $12.5 million.
The Atlantic Club was down 1.7 percent to $14.5 million, and Caesars Atlantic City was down less than 1 percent to $37.7 million.
Among gainers, the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa was up 13.3 percent to $62.6 million; Resorts Casino Hotel, continuing to benefit from its Jimmy Buffett-themed Margaritaville complex, was up 11.6 percent; and the struggling Revel Casino Hotel was up 2.2 percent to $20.4 million
Joe Lupo, the Borgata’s senior vice president, said his casino was able to overcome the difficulties affecting the Atlantic City market.
“We had the best summer since 2009, and are very happy that our strategy to combine the best promotions, loosest slots and best entertainment provided our customers with no other choice than to come to Borgata,” he said.
Jeffrey Hartmann, Revel’s interim CEO, said the casino resort saw several positive trends in August, including increased slot revenue and hotel occupancy.
“You’ve got to walk before you run, and we’re at a slow jog right now,” he said.
For the first eight months of this year, the casinos won $2 billion. That’s down nearly 9 percent from the same period last year.
Atlantic City’s casinos are in their seventh year of declining revenues, a streak that began with the opening of the first casino in neighboring Pennsylvania.
In 2006, the year the first Pennsylvania casino opened, Atlantic City’s casino revenues peaked at $5.2 billion. They fell to just over $3 billion last year, and are on track to fall below that level this year.
There are now 11 casinos in Pennsylvania. New competition in New York and lingering damage from Superstorm Sandy in some of Atlantic City’s key customer markets also continue to hurt the gambling resort.
