Woes For Atlantic City Casinos Continue into 17th Consecutive Month

Atlantic City’s woes seem set to continue after the New Jersey Casino Control Commission released January’s revenue figures which indicated 17 consecutive months of declining revenue for Atlantic City. The resort has now not experienced a rise in monthly revenue since August 2008.
The generally accepted term for a casino’s gross revenue is ‘win’ and does not, therefore, equal its total profit. In January, Atlantic City’s eleven casinos won $294.2 million, which was a decline of 8.5% from the Jan 2009 figure. Slot machine revenue fell 7.6% to $195.5 million, while table games dropped off 10.1% to $98.7 million.
Only Harrah’s Resort and Showboat saw their revenues increase in January, while Atlantic City Hilton Casino Resort and the three Trump casinos all suffered double digit declines.
In 2006, Atlantic City Casinos achieved a January all-time revenue record of $406.2 million, after which its industry started to suffer from one of the worst recessions in living memory and increased competition from neighboring states. In January, for instance, Pennsylvania experienced an increase of 39% in its gaming revenue helped by its two new casinos and nine new slot parlours. In the second half of 2010 the competition is only set to get worse, too, as the State adds table games to their casino services.
The only cause for optimism was that the overall decline in revenue was reduced to single digits for the second consecutive month, which prompted Mark Juliano, chief executive officer of Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc, to comment: “It really could have been worse. Instead of being horrific, it was just bad.”
Israel Posner from the Institute for Gaming Management in New Jersey, echoed Juliano’s sentiment and said: “January’s 8.5 percent decline is somewhat surprising in that I expected even worse. While the Atlantic City gaming market is still contracting, this hints at some short-term moderation.”