The closing of four Atlantic City casinos in 2014 has led to an increase in profits for many of the casinos that remain.
And that’s a big increase of about 45 percent.
The biggest gains came from Golden Nugget Atlantic City, Tropicana Casino and Resort, Resorts Casino Hotel and Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa according to year-end figures for 2014 released by the state Division of Gaming Enforcement. That pushed the resort’s the market to a $341.1 million gross operating profit compared with $235.7 million in 2013.
Seven of the city’s eight casinos saw a profit. Only the Trump Taj Mahal casino resort, which is embroiled in a difficult bankruptcy, saw an operating loss in 2014.
The city’s average hotel occupancy rate for the year was 80.2 percent, up nearly three percentage points over 2013. The average room rate climbed from $99.30 in 2013 to $100.83 in 2014, according to the report.
Also encouraging are the figures for the fourth quarter. The resort’s casinos rebounded from a $5.8 million loss in the fourth quarter of 2013 to a gross operating profit of $72 million in 2014. Three city casinos closed at the beginning of the fourth quarter last year.
Operating profits represent earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and other expenses.
Matthew Levinson, chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, said the numbers should provide incentive for casinos to revitalize the local economy with new attractions and jobs.
“Those profits give casinos the capital they need to reinvest in their facilities, expand their attractions, draw new customers, provide a return for investors and, most importantly, gives them the ability to create new jobs for people here,” Levinson said.
The Golden Nugget, went from a more than $10 million loss in 2013 to a $4.5 million profit in 2014. Resorts went from a $12.3 million loss in 2013 to a $2.5 million profit last year, a gain of over 120 percent.
The Tropicana saw its operating profit increase from $26 million in 2013 to nearly $60 million last year. The Borgata grew its operating profit by more than 30 percent, from $121.6 million in 2013 to $158.4 million last year.
The biggest decline among surviving casinos came at the Trump Taj Mahal, which posted an operating loss of $1.1 million last year after a $20 million operating profit in 2013.
Bally’s saw its operating profit slide 32 percent to $22.6 million. Caesars saw its profit fall 14 percent to just under $60 million and Harrah’s saw its operating profit decline by 4.6 percent to $97.4 million.
Among the casinos that closed, the Atlantic Club and Revel both decreased their operating losses, but the properties still failed. Trump Plaza, which closed Sept. 16, saw its operating loss rise from $4.7 million in 2013 to $13 million in the 8½ months it operated last year.
Showboat casino was still profitable when it shut down, but its operating profit fell from $34 million in 2013 to just under $13 million in the eight months it operated in 2014.
