Atlantic City Casinos Down 10.5% To $238m In March

Atlantic City has released its casino figures for March, revealing a 10.5% decline in revenue to $238.5 million. Of that total, slot machine revenue was down by almost 10% to $173 million, while table games fell by nearly 13% to $65.6 million.
Atlantic City has 12 casinos, with its newest gambling house, Revel, having opened in April, last year. Out of the remaining 11 casinos with comparative data for 2012, only The Atlantic Club recorded an increase in revenue, up nearly 33% to $12.6 million. The Atlantic Club is currently in the process of being bought by online poker giant PokerStars, and in the meantime the casino has been adapting its strategy to target low-rollers and gamblers seeking affordable food, drink and gambling entertainment.
As the casino’s CEO Michael Frawley, explains: “This has a lot to do with our position in the market and how it’s resonating with customers. We have always felt there is a place for an affordably priced product in this market. We’ve worked very hard and we drove a lot of new people to this property.”
On the other side of the coin, recording the biggest decline in March revenue compared to the same month last year was Trump Plaza Hotel Casino down 31% to $6.8 million; followed by The Showboat Casino Hotel down 24.3% to $16.8 million; and the Tropicana Casino down 22% to $20 million.
Also posting revenue declines was Bally’s Atlantic City down 18.8% to $21.8 million; the Trump Taj Mahal Casino resort down 18.7% to $23.4 million,; Resorts Casino Hotel down 16.3% to $9.2 million; Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City down 13.8% to $30.6 million; the Golden Nugget Atlantic City down 4.1% to $10.7 million, and the Borgata Hotel Casino down 3.6% to $52.1 million.
Atlantic City’s beleaguered $2.4 billion gambling resort, Revel, though, saw a 9% improvement in revenue to $9.8 million compared to February’s tally. Commenting on Revel’s results, Revel’s interim CEO, Jeffrey Hartmann, said: “We are heading in the right direction..which points to the progress and promotion enhancements in the Revel Card program. In groups, we saw 29 percent growth year-over-year for contracted room nights, and in the month of March, we hosted nearly 1,800 group room nights.”
Atlantic City’s casinos have now won $656 million for the first three months of 2013, down over 12% from the same period in 2012.