As casinos closed in Atlantic City in 2014, many analysts hoped the shrinking of the city’s casino market would help the remaining casinos.
That seems to have happened as borne out by figures released by the state that show the city’s eight casinos saw their gross operating profit increase by more than 40 percent last year.
The casinos posted a collective operating profit of over $547 million in 2015, with seven of the eight seeing increases, according to the Associated Press.
The Tropicana was the only casino to show a decline, down over 22 percent for the year, to $46.4 million.
Gross operating profit reflects earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and other charges and is a widely accepted measure of profitability in the Atlantic City casino industry.
According to the AP, Resorts had the highest increase by percentage at 525 percent increase in profits, to $15.6 million. The Golden Nugget was up more than 396 percent to $22.6 million.
Bally’s was up nearly 77 percent to $39.9 million; Caesars was up more than 39 percent to $83.4 million; Borgata was up over 36 percent to nearly $216 million; and Harrah’s was up 26 percent to $122 million.
The Trump Taj Mahal swung from an operating loss of $1.1 million in 2014 to an operating profit of $3.1 million in 2015.
In online gaming, Caesars Interactive-NJ went from a $12.3 million operating loss in 2014 to an operating profit of $4 million last year. Resorts Digital saw its online operating loss swell from $1.6 million in 2014 to $6.5 million last year, a worsening of 293 percent.
Nearly three-quarters of Atlantic City’s hotel rooms were occupied in 2015, a rate of 74.1 percent. Caesars had the highest occupancy percentage at 86.6 percent; the Taj Mahal had the lowest at 49.3 percent.
