The casino industry in Atlantic City hit a wall in 2006 when the first casinos opened in Pennsylvania. New competition ended the annual record-breaking revenue chain, which topped $5.2 billion that year. Revenues plummeted. Plans to build more casino resorts dried up. The downside lasted for seven years until Atlantic City introduced online gambling in 2013.
Critics blasted the decision as the destruction of the casino industry in town and the end of casino jobs. These doomsday warnings never came to pass. Instead, the evidence suggests that online gambling, and later sports betting, saved Atlantic City’s gambling industry. Despite Covid restrictions, 2021 land-based casino revenue was near 2019’s six-year high. It was all highlighted in a new report by Steve Ruddock on Wagers.com.
Looking at the bigger picture, 2021 was Atlantic City’s best year since 2008. Before 2021, total gambling revenue hadn’t eclipsed $4 billion since 2008.
Most importantly, land-based revenue was steadily growing alongside online casino gambling and sports betting pre-Covid
Based on the early results in 2022, land-based casino revenue is up 22 percent through February ($396 million in 2022 compared to $308 million in 2021). If that growth holds, land-based casino revenue could eclipse $3.3 billion, which hasn’t happened since 2011.
Excluding the Covid years, Atlantic City casino employment is relatively steady on a per operational casino basis. In 2012, the city’s twelve casinos employed an average of 2,900 people. In 2016, Atlantic City was down to seven casinos, but they had an average of 3,100 employees. 2019 showed the average employment per casino was around 2,900. Even during Covid, the average number of employees per casino was around 2,400.
Online gambling is not destroying brick and mortar casino jobs. Nor do these figures include the non-casino jobs created by online gambling firms. For example, a 2019 white paper commissioned by iDEA Growth concluded that online gambling created 3,240 indirect jobs in New Jersey.
In 2021 only the newly purchased Bally’s AC was in the red, with the industry tallying $766.8 million in operating profit. 2021 Atlantic City gross operating profit (including digital divisions):
- Bally’s AC ($13.2 million)
- Borgata $174 million
- Caesars $62.1 million
- Golden Nugget $35.6 million
- Hard Rock $106.8 million
- Harrah’s $99.5 million
- Ocean Resort $91.2 million
- Resorts Casino $27.6 million
- Tropicana $118.7 million
- CIENJ $16.6 million
- GNOG $32.9 million
- Resorts Digital $15 million
Compare that to 2013, the last year before online gambling when 12 casinos generated $235 million in profits, with five casinos in the red.
- Atlantic Club ($12.7 million)
- Bally’s AC $33.4 million
- Borgata $121.6 million
- Caesars $69.5 million
- Golden Nugget ($10.4 million)
- Harrah’s $102 million
- Resorts Casino ($12.2 million)
- Revel ($130.2 million)
- Showboat $34 million
- Tropicana $26.5 million
- Trump Plaza ($4.7 million)
- Trump Taj Mahal $19.6 million
