iGaming Returns AC Casinos to First Growth Since 2006
January 16, 2017 2:23 pmNew Jersey’s casino industry has just broken a 10 year losing streak after posting a moderate 1.5% increase in revenues for 2016. All told, Atlantic City’s seven casinos generated gambling revenues of $2.6 billion last year, representing its first growth since 2006 when its then 12 casinos hit an all-time revenue peak of $5.2 billion before slipping into the mire.
New Jersey ended 2016 on an impressive note, with December’s casino revenues jumping by 8.5% to $208.1 million. The numbers were helped along by New Year’s Eve falling on a Saturday night last year, although undoubtedly online gambling revenues of $18.4 million helped lift the market, as it was not only 31% higher than the same month in 2016, but also smashed the previous record set last July by more than $1 million.
Overall, New Jersey’s online gambling revenues came in at $196.7 million in 2016, up by 32% compared to 2015. From that tally, casino games generated 36% more revenues at $170.2 million, while even poker noted an 11% increase to $26.5 million.
Online Gambling Revenues:
2016: $196.7m
2015: $148.9m
2014: $122.9m
2013: $8.4m
iGaming Operators (2016):
Borgata: $47m
Golden Nugget: $42.2m
Caesars: $38.6m
Tropicana: $36.9m
Resorts: $31.7m
New Jersey’s land-based casinos generated $2.4 billion in 2016, not including iGaming, and despite currently representing just 8% of the state’s total gambling revenues, without the vertical the market would have suffered a 0.3% year-on-year decline. Commenting on the role online gambling has played in lifting New Jersey’s casino market to its first revenue uptick in a decade, Professor Donald Hoover of Fairleigh Dickinson University, explained:
“Online gaming has absolutely helped Atlantic City. It’s not even that I’m a proponent of it but in a regulated environment, it’s absolutely helpful.”
In the meantime, the USA’s second biggest market, Pennsylvania, is predicting a 1% revenue increase to $3.2 billion for 2016, while the country’s biggest casino market, Nevada, has already reported similarly positive news with the Silver State turning its first profit since 2008, albeit with “room rentals and fees” helping the market to grow.