Atlantic City’s online gambling revenue grew substantially in January, but it wasn’t enough to offset an overall decline in revenue at the city’s brick-and-mortar casinos.
Between land-based casino winnings and online revenue, the casinos took in $195.7 million, down 4.6 percent from a year ago. Without the extra $9.5 million taken in through internet gambling, the decline would have been 9.2 percent.
Overall, the city’s casino revenue was hurt by the January 13 shut down of the Atlantic Club Casino, which closed its doors for good, and poor weather in the Northeast.
Online gambling began in the state in late November and brought in $7.4 million through the end of 2013. In January, online gaming brought in $9.5 million, a 28 percent increase.
All New Jersey online sites are run through Atlantic City casinos and their gambling partners
According to figures released by the state Division of Gaming Enforcement, the online battle for dominance in the market is between the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa and its partner Party Poker against Caesars Interactive, which operates its WSOP brand and is partnered with 888 Poker. Borgata also operates a straight casino games site while Caesars Interactive operates two such sites.
The Borgata won nearly $3.9 million online, while Caesars won just over $3 million.
As in December, Borgata issued a statement saying that its online research shows that internet gaming is largely bringing in new customers and not cannibalizing play at its brick-and-mortar casino.
“These results also once again demonstrate online gaming’s potential to expand our business,” said Kevin Smith, president of Boyd Gaming, part owner of Borgata. “About 85 percent of our online players have not had rated play at Borgata in at least two years, showing there is little overlap with our land-based business. Online gaming is growing our database, creating a long-term opportunity to market Borgata to an entirely new group of customers.”
While Borgata is leading in online play in the state—about 41 percent of the market—Caesars Interactive saw a nearly 50 percent increase in its take.
“It was a very strong month for us,” said Seth Palansky, a spokesman for Caesars Interactive. “We saw huge growth in casino revenue, and significant growth in poker revenue, too. We started marketing in earnest in January, and the promotions we offered our customers really seemed to resonate well. We’re very encouraged on how the New Jersey market is performing for us across all three of our brands, CaesarsCasino.com, Harrahscasino.com and WSOP.com.”
Other Internet gambling providers continued to trail Borgata and Caesars. The Trump Taj Mahal, with its Ultimate Casino brand, took in $858,351, while the Tropicana Casino and Resort, with its Virgin and Tropicana brand sites, took in $841,065 for the month. Tropicana and Virgin do not offer online poker.
Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino and its Betfair brand won $557,007 online in January, and the Golden Nugget Atlantic City, which operates its own site, won $286,922 online. Golden Nugget has not yet launched a planned online poker site.
Market analysts said the growth met expectations. Early tracking for February shows a slight decline in online play, but growth is expected to continue as the casinos do a better job of marketing the sites and fixing technical problems that have complicated creating new accounts for players.
As for land-based revenue, Revel Casino Hotel showed the biggest percentage increase, up 23 percent to $9.8 million in January. The Golden Nugget was up nearly 10 percent to $10.5 million; the Borgata was up 2.5 percent to $48.3 million, and Resorts Casino Hotel, which does not have an internet component, was up 2.4 percent, to $8.3 million.
Trump Plaza posted the biggest decline falling 26.7 percent for the month to $3.5 million. Caesars Atlantic City was down 23.4 percent to $17.8 million; and the Taj Mahal was down 18.2 percent to $15.4 million.
The Showboat Casino Hotel was down 17.3 percent to $11.2 million; Bally’s Atlantic City was down 15.7 percent to $14.8 million; Tropicana was down 8.8 percent to $16.6 million and Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City was down 3.9 percent to $25.6 million.
The Atlantic Club took in $3.9 million in the 12 days it was open in January. It was bought in December in a bankruptcy court auction by Tropicana and Caesars, which divided its assets and shut it down.
The Borgata also held its live Winter Poker Open in January and saw its overall poker winnings rise 25 percent. A counterfeit chip scandal that led to the suspension of the Winter Open’s first and most well-attended tournament impacted those results.
