Atlantic City casino quarterly profits up 55.9%

The city’s eight open casinos, including their Internet gambling arms, saw a 55.9 percent increase in gross operating profit in the quarter ended Sept. 30, the state Division of Gaming Enforcement said.

These are earnings that remain after wages, supplies and other immediate expenses are deducted but before accounting for debt and other long-term expenses.

Rising revenues have helped propel profits.

In a city that saw four casinos close in 2014, the revenue pie is smaller, but “people are getting a bigger piece,” the chairman of the Casino Control Commission, Matthew Levinson, said. “Casino operations are stabilizing after several difficult years.”

Together, the open properties saw a 5 percent rise in net revenue in the third quarter, putting them up 5.3 percent this year through September compared to the same stretch last year.

The increase includes revenue from casino, hotel, entertainment, and food and beverage sales.

During the nine-month stretch, net revenue, which excludes comps spent by customers, was up at six of the eight properties. It was down 22.2 percent at Trump Taj Mahal, which is restructuring under bankruptcy protection, and flat at Bally’s.

And collectively, the eight properties saw their hotel-occupancy rate increase by 1.5 percent to 83 percent occupancy during the nine-month period, the DGE said.

“The town is in a healthier state, which can only help us reinvest in our properties, our customers and our employees,” said Joe Lupo, Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa’s senior vice president of operations.

Borgata, an unrivaled Atlantic City powerhouse, generated $611.2 million in net revenue this year through September — $52.1 million more than during the same period last year.

Atlantic City’s smaller properties are having heartening years, too.
Resorts Casino Hotel has seen net revenue increase 12.7 percent through September, to $118.4 million.

CEO Mark Giannantonio gave credit for the property’s performance to its employees. “They set the property apart,” he said. “Service is so important here.”

The sunny numbers were tempered by the fact that overall, the industry has seen net revenue decrease 8.5 percent, to $2.03 billion, from the first nine months of 2014.

Atlantic Club Casino Hotel closed in January 2014. Atlantic City spent most of that year as an 11-casino town. But before the year ended, three more casinos— Showboat Casino Hotel, Revel Casino Hotel and Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino — had closed.