Atlantic City’s eight remaining casinos saw a sizeable bump in revenue for January compared to January 2014 indicating that less competition in the resort market may be helping their bottom line.
Revenue in January at the city’s remaining casinos was up nearly 19 percent compared to a year ago and was still up 1 percent after factoring in revenue at four casinos that closed in 2014. It’s the first overall revenue increase for the city since August.
Altogether, January’s revenue came in at $197.5 million, a 1 percent increase compared with $195.7 million a year ago, according to figures released by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.
Meanwhile, online gambling was also up, taking in $11.5 million in January, up from $10.7 million in December and $9.5 million in January 2014.
Matt Levinson, chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, said the numbers may show that the Atlantic City market is stabilizing.
“Seven out of them were up, and six reported double-digit increases,” Levinson said in a press statement. “Even when you include the now-closed casinos in last year’s results, the total gaming win is still up. While it is always risky to say we’ve turned a corner or that there is light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, let me say that January’s results are very encouraging.”
The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa—with partners Party Poker and the new PalaCasino.com—continues to lead in online gambling with $3.7 million in online winnings for the month, a slight decline from last year.
Caesars Interactive-NJ posted a nine percent decline, falling to $2.7 million in online winnings last month compared to $3 million a year ago. Still a new player sharing agreement with Party Poker appears to have helped Caesars improve by about $500,000 over December.
Golden Nugget had the biggest online gain with a nearly 800 percent increase to $2.5 million. Tropicana Casino and Resort’s online winnings jumped 200 percent, to nearly $2.6 million. Both casino’s sites offer only online casino games and not online poker.
Online poker revenues were down 33 percent at $2.3 million in January, compared to the $3.44 million generated in the same month in 2014. Online casino game revenue, however, increased 54 percent to $9.3 million.
The Golden Nugget casino as a whole posted the biggest monthly gain, up nearly 70 percent to $18.3 million from $10.8 million in January 2014. Other increases included Resorts (up 31.8 percent); Caesars (29.8 percent); Tropicana (28.6); and Harrah’s (20.1 percent). Borgata continues to lead the market with total winnings of $57.1 million, up 18 percent.
However, the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort, which is struggling through a difficult bankruptcy proceeding, posted a decline in January, down 21.2 percent to $12.1 million.
The city overall also benefitted in January from milder weather compared to a very snowy January 2014.
