Atlantic City casino earnings up 21% in latest quarter

The seven casinos posted a gross operating profit of US$ 252.5 million for the quarter, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement’s numbers show. Gross operating profit reflects earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and other charges, and is a widely accepted measure of profitability in the casino industry.

Tropicana’s earnings were up 67 percent for the quarter, to US$ 46.2 million. The Golden Nugget was up 15.4 percent to US$ 12.8 million, and Caesars was up nearly 11 percent to US$ 29 million. Only the Borgata posted a quarterly loss, and theirs was less than half a percent, down to US$ 81.8 million.

Bally’s was up 10.7 percent to US$ 18.1 million; Harrah’s was up just under 1 percent to US$ 37.7 million, and Resorts was virtually flat at US$ 10.7 million.

Among internet-only entities, Caesars Entertainment-NJ was up 55.4 percent to US$ 3.7 million, and Resorts Digital went from a US$ 570,000 profit in the third quarter of last year to a US$ 12.1 million profit in the third quarter this year.

For the first nine months of this year, Atlantic City’s casinos show an operating profit of US$ 561 million, up 19.8 percent from the same period last year.

The average Atlantic City hotel room cost US$ 118 a night in the third quarter. The Borgata had the highest average price at US$ 121, and the Golden Nugget had the cheapest at just under US$ 93.

The casino hotels were mostly full during the quarter, averaging nearly 96 percent occupancy.