Atlantic City’s 11 casinos posted yet another fall in their combined monthly revenue, down 5% in July compared to the same period a year ago.
Although traditionally one of the busiest months of the year, July’s disappointing figure now represent 23 consecutive months of decline for the beleaguered gambling resort.
Adding to the concern of the US’s second biggest gambling destination is the fact that just the Trump Taj Mahal (+7.1%) and Atlantic City Hilton (+2.1%) actually saw an increase in revenue.
The remaining casinos all saw a decline in revenue, with double digits falls recorded by the Resorts down a massive 19.3%, followed by Trump Plaza down 17.1%, the Trump Marina down 13.4% and Caesars down 10.3%.
The Tropicana’s revenue was down by 9.5%, while posting slightly lower falls were the Harrah’s Marina (-5.3%), Bally’s AC (-4.4%), Showboat (-3.1%), and the Borgata (-0.6%).
Compounding the worrying figures was the introduction of table games by competing state Pennsylvania, as well as a power plant failure affecting the business at the Trump Plaza Hotel and Caesars Atlantic City.
In total, Atlantic City’s casinos posted a win of $363.9 million in July, of which $252.9 million came from slot machines and $111 million from table games. These figures represented a 5.2% fall in slot revenue and a 4.5% fall in table game revenues.
Commenting on the lack lustre figures, Gaming Analyst Steve Schwartz said:
“Pennsylvania casinos had already started applying pressure to AC casinos back in December when Pennsylvania casinos had higher slot revenue than their AC counterparts. Now with the table games addition, AC casinos could be in serious financial danger in the coming years.”
So far this year, the Atlantic City casinos have earned $2.14 billion or 7.9% less win than in 2009 figure.
The New Jersey lawmakers are currently in the process of assessing a range of major changes designed to rescue Atlantic City’s casino industry.
Good luck “rescuing” AC. It’s monopoly on East coast gaming is over. Good riddance. That town needs to be scraped off the coast and into the ocean.