Atlantic City Casino Revenue Falls 6.7% To $280.5 Million In March 2011

Atlantic City’s casino revenue for March has just been released revealing a 6.7% drop in revenue to $280.5 million.
Despite experiencing thirty-one months of declining revenue dating back to September 2008, analyst have been keen to stress an optimistic side to the latest results, which have now fallen to just single digits.
Commenting on the figures, Don Marrandino from Harrah’s Resort said:
“I look at this month as a decent month, although you’re never satisfied with being down…I think we’re stabilizing somewhat in our gaming.”
In total, Atlantic City’s 11 casinos generated $280.5 million in revenue in March, down from $300.8 million for the same period in 2010. Breaking the figures down, slot machine revenue had decreased 5.3% to $196.3 million, while table games revenue was off by 10% to $84.2 million in March.
Only two casinos actually saw a rise in their revenue, with Harrah’s Resort up 11.6% to $15.3 million and Caesars up 10%. 
Don Marrandino from Harrah’s Resort was obviously buoyed having bucked the overall trend and was grateful to AC’s main entertainment venue Boardwalk Hall for the improvement in business.
“Boardwalk Hall was busier than it has ever been. We had the A-10 basketball tournament, wrestling, hockey and the buildup to the rodeo. There were three weekends that were booked. Our hotel occupancy was good, as well as our cash business in the hotels and restaurants,” explained Marrandino.
Conversely, the worst performing casinos were the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort down 28%, Trump Marina Hotel Casino down 18% and Trump Plaza Hotel down 16%.
Other results showed Bally’s Atlantic City down 14.3%, Tropicana Casino down 3.8%, Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City down 3.1% and the Borgata down by 0.5%.
So far for the first quarter of 2011, Atlantic City’s casino revenue has fallen 7.3% to $793.9 million from a year earlier.
On the other hand, the news from neighbouring Pennsylvania continues to impress and the state once again saw its slot revenue surge, this time by 7% to $214.9 million in March.