Bad weather hurt Atlantic City casinos in January, but may have also helped them post the highest online winnings ever for the state.
The city’s eight casinos took in $190.1 million last month, a decrease of 3.8 percent compared to January 2015, according to figure released by the state Division of Gaming Enforcement. Online gambling revenue, however, was up 26.5 percent compared with a year ago, to $14.6 million.
According to an analysis by the Associated Press, the city’s brick-and-mortar casinos took in $175.4 million from table games and slot machines, which was down 5.6 percent from January 2015.
“January started off strong with the New Year’s holiday weekend, but those gains were erased later in the month when a blizzard dropped up to two feet of snow in Atlantic City’s main feeder markets,” said Matt Levinson, chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission in a press statement. “As a result, a lot of people just couldn’t get here that weekend. So it isn’t surprising that revenue from the slots and tables was down for the month. But the bad weather that kept people home contributed to the 26.5 percent hike in revenue from online gambling.”
Four of the city’s eight casinos saw revenue increases, led by the Tropicana, which was up 6.6 percent to $24 million. The remaining four saw decreases, topped by Caesars, which was down 13.5 percent to $20 million, according to the AP.
The Borgata Hotel Casino had the highest monthly revenue at $56.6 million.
The Trump Taj Mahal—which is being taken over by billionaire Carl Icahn—saw a rare upswing as its revenue increased 2.3 percent to $12.4 million in January.
Among casinos with Internet gambling, the Borgata continued to lead the market with $4.5 million in winnings in January, followed by Caesars Interactive at $3.2 million; Tropicana at $2.8 million; The Golden Nugget at $2.5 million and Resorts at $1.4 million.
The two highest months for online revenue since the state introduced online gambling in 2013 are January 2016 at $14.6 million and December 2015 at about $14 million.
The casinos collectively won $122.9 million and slots, and $52.5 million at table games, according to the AP.
