AC Casinos Continue Slump Despite Miss America Competition

The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement has just released its Atlantic City casino results for September, revealing a 13% decline in revenue to $240.2 million compared to the same month last year. Overall, slot winnings were down by almost 11% to $177.3 million, while table game revenue fell 19% to $62.9 million.
Disappointingly, the return of the Miss America competition for the first time since 2004 failed to give the gambling resort’s market the boost it anticipated, despite 20,593 extra people being drawn to the spectacle. Admittedly, in the past the four night competition had not had a major impact on gambling revenue, but unlike in previous years many of the casinos decided to embrace the competition this time around.
In total, eleven of Atlantic City’s 12 casinos posted declines in monthly revenue, with only the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel up by 4% to $12.3 million in September. On the other side of the coin, posting the biggest decline was Caesars Atlantic City, down 28.5% to $23.8 million; followed by Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino down 28% to $6.4 million, and the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort down 18.9% to $22.6 million.
Other casinos also reporting declines in revenue included Bally’s Atlantic City down 18.1% to $20 million; the Showboat Casino Hotel down 16.8% to $16.1 million; Revel Casino Hotel down 11.9% to $14.8 million; Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City down 9.8% to $29.5 million; the Golden Nugget Atlantic City down 6.8% to $10.7 million; Borgata Hotel Casino down 6.5% to $51.7 million; The Tropicana Casino down 6.1% percent to $20.2 million, and Resorts Casino Hotel down 2.7% to $11.5 million.
As a gambling resort, Atlantic City reached its peak in 2006 having reported a total revenue of $5.2 billion, but last year that tally had fallen to just $3 billion. For the first nine months of 2013, the casinos are currently down 9.3% at $2.2 billion, compared to the same period a year ago.