Atlantic City Casino Revenue Plunges By 11.6% In September 2010

The financial woes of Atlantic City’s casinos is set to continue after its 11 casino hotels reported an 11.6% plunge in their combined gambling revenue to $296.3 million, down from $335.4 million a year earlier.
The latest figures now represent 25 months of consecutive decline for Atlantic City’s ailing gambling industry with even the summer season months of June, July, August and September unable to reverse the troubling downward trend.
All told, slot machine revenue was down by 9.9% to $209 million, while gaming tables fell by a staggering 16% to $87.4 million.
Adding little cause for optimism was the fact that all 11 of Atlantic City’s casinos experienced falls in their monthly revenue figures.
Leading the double digit fallers was the the Resorts down 20.9%, followed by the Borgata down 16.1%, Bally’s down by 16%, Harrah’s down 15.5%, Caesars down 13.1%, A.C. Hilton down 12.9% and the Trump Plaza down 10%.
At the other end of the scale revenue at the Trump Taj Mahal fell by just 0.4 % in September, while the Trump Marina fell by 0.8%, Tropicana was down 5.1% and the Showboat was down 7.7%.
Atlantic City’s casinos have come under intense pressure lately from a weak economy, as well as increased competition from neighbouring states. In particular, Pennsylvania began offering table games in July and the opening of its 1,602 slot machines and 40 table games SugarHouse Casino on September 23rd has greatly added to Atlantic City’s woes. In the first week of its opening the SugarHouse grossed $4.7 million in slots revenue alone.
Addressing investors and commenting on the situation, gambling analyst with Deutsche Bank AG, Andrew Zarnett said: 
“Longer term, we believe Atlantic City gaming revenues will likely continue to trend down as the competitive landscape is expected to intensify with the opening of Aqueduct (phase one) in April 2011 and the ramp-up of SugarHouse Casino (now open).”
Atlantic City’s casinos have now taken $2.8 billion in gambling revenue for the first nine months of 2010, 8.7% lower than last year’s comparitive figure.