The weather can be a major factor in Atlantic City’s fortunes and a cold January marked by a major blizzard early in the month contributed to a 10 percent drop in casino revenue for January.
According to figures released by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, the city’s seven casinos won $184.3 million in January, down 9.9 percent from January 2017.
The Golden Nugget was the only casino with a monthly revenue increase, up 1.7 percent from last year.
“What a difference a blizzard makes,” said James Plousis, chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission in a press release. “When people are stuck in their homes by more than a foot of snow and temperatures are dipping into single digits, they don’t come to Atlantic City. So, it comes as no surprise that casino revenues were down last month.”
New Jersey and neighboring states were impacted by a major blizzard on January 4 that dumped as much as 2 feet of snow in many areas. There were also some stretches in the month where temperatures hovered in the single digits.
Despite the weather’s impact, analysts are still expecting a strong year for the city despite the January fall in revenue. Two new casinos—a Hard Rock casino and the re-opening of the former Revel casino as the Ocean resort—are scheduled for the summer.
According to an analysis by the Associated Press, Caesars Atlantic City had the largest monthly revenue decline, down 23 percent to $21.7 million; Harrah’s was down 16.3 percent to $23.5 million; Borgata was down 10.2 percent to $57.7 million; Bally’s was down 8.8 percent to $12.7 million; Resorts was down 6 percent to $11.6 million; and Tropicana was down 4.4 percent to $26.1 million.
The weather did not, however, negatively affect the resort’s online gaming numbers as online revenue was up 16.7 percent to about $22 million.
The Golden Nugget remained the leader in the market taking in $7.3 million in January, an about 53 percent from a year ago. The Golden Nugget’s numbers—which represent revenue for its own online brand as well as the Betfair and Sugarhouse casino brands—appear to be a record for a casino’s single-month online revenue.
