Atlantic City casinos lose cash live but not online

Figures released Friday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement show the city’s eight casinos brought in $204.5 million last month, compared with $207.2 million in October 2014.

Internet gambling remained a bright spot: The casinos’ online gambling operations won $12.9 million from gamblers in October, compared with $9.5 million in October 2014, an increase of 35.6 percent.

For the first 10 months of this year, the casinos have won $2.16 billion, down 7.7 percent from the same period last year. Resorts had the biggest monthly gain compared with October 2014, up 21 percent to $14.8 million.

Golden Nugget’s revenue was up 10.6 percent to $17.6 million, the Borgata was up 10.5 percent to $61.1 million, and the Tropicana was up 4.4 percent to $24.6 million.

Caesars’ revenue was down 25.2 percent to $22.6 million in October, compared with $30.2 million a year ago; the Trump Taj Mahal was down 18.7 percent to $13.6 million; Harrah’s was down 9.8 percent to $29.1 million, and Bally’s was down 2.6 percent to just over $17 million.

The casinos brought in $141 million at slots in October, a decline of just under 1 percent. They brought in an additional $50.5 million at table games, down 8.8 percent from a year ago. Those combined figures would have seen the casinos’ revenue decline by 3.1 percent, had it not been for the bounce they got from Internet gambling, which brought the overall revenue decline to 1.3 percent in October.

So far this year, the casinos have won $121.6 million online — almost exactly what they won in all of 2014. The figures also show that New Jersey’s Internet gambling market, which initially was a two-horse race between the Borgata and Caesars Interactive, has become much more evenly distributed. The Borgata had the largest share last month at nearly $3.5 million, but three others were close behind: Caesars at $2.9 million; Tropicana at $2.85 million and the Golden Nugget at $2.7 million. Resorts, which began its online gambling in February, won just under $900,000. But it is expected to get a major boost by mid-2016 when its PokerStars affiliate begins Internet gambling operations in New Jersey.

Despite being lower than expected, gaming experts insisted that the decline was due to seasonal factors and that fact it was the end of the summer.

However, it is important to note that October was the first fully comparable month with 2014. Between January and September, 2014, the AC casino community lost four venues which meant the year-on-year analysis has since had to be adjusted to account for the reduced number of operators.

However, the landscape hasn’t changed since October 2014 which means the drop in revenue is even more poignant as it represents a direct comparison between the past and the present.

Falling the hardest over the last 12 months according to the latest financial report was Caesars.

In 2014 the venue posted monthly takings of $30.2 million; however, just 12 months later the figure reported was 25.2 percent lower at $22.6 million. While the overall picture was gloomy for Atlantic City, there were some patches of light that broke through. 

Additionally, things on the virtual side of the casino industry also showed signs of improvement in October. Accompanying the latest live casino report was a breakdown of the virtual world’s earnings.

In total New Jersey’s collection of online casino sites and pokers raked in $12.9 million during the month of October; an 8 percent increase on September’s takings. Earning the most and enjoying a 170 percent revenue increase was the Golden Nugget.

However, despite the Golden Nugget and its peers experiencing a 46 percent jump in revenue in October, the online poker industry continued to falter.

As outlined by the DGE’s report, online poker suffered a year-on-year drop of 3 percent after banking just $1.9 million.
Although that figure is better than the amount generated in September, 2015, it’s important to note that that month was the worst month in New Jersey’s iGaming history.