Atlantic City casinos saw a rare increase in casino revenue in April, taking in 5.9 million in revenue up about 3 percent form 2013 when the casinos took in 8.5 million.
Without about $11.4 million from online gaming revenues, however, the city would have seen another monthly decline in revenue. The city also had one more casino operating in 2013 as the Atlantic Club casino closed its doors in January.
Online gambling revenue saw its first decline since internet gambling went live in the state in November. The $11.4 million was down from $11.9 million in March, according to figures released by the state Division of Gambling Enforcement.
The online win per day averaged $380,958 in April compared to $383,173 in March.
The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa continued to lead New Jersey’s online market, with $16.4 million so far this year. Caesars Interactive has taken in $13.1 million and the Tropicana Casino and Resort has taken in $6.2 million. The Golden Nugget and the two Trump casinos had from $2 million to $2.7 million in online winnings for the year
New Jersey’s online gambling is still hampered by technical problems such as geolocation programs shutting people out of sites—you must be physically located in New Jersey to play—and banks and credit card issuers refusing to process gambling transactions.
Lately, however, many casino officials and analysts have pointed to a poor marketing effort by the casinos and a general lack of knowledge on the part of state residents about online gambling as a major stumbling block as well.
Still progress is being made, officials said. The Borgata, for example, has seen more than 55,000 online gambling accounts created.
Nearly 75 percent of those accounts were created by players who had not visited Borgata in at least a year, the casino said in a press release, and 10 percent of those players have since made a trip to Borgata.
The casino is also hoping for greater revenue as it increases technology options for mobile devices
For land-based revenue, Revel Casino Hotel saw a 55 percent improvement from $8 million in revenue in April 2013 to $12.5 million last month.
Golden Nugget Atlantic City saw a revenue increase of 40 percent from $9.3 million in 2013 to $13 million in April 2014.
Caesars Atlantic City was up 17 percent to $34 million, and the Borgata was up 12.8 percent to nearly $49 million. Resorts Casino Hotel was up 7.7 percent to $12.5 million, and the Tropicana was up 6.4 percent to $21.9 million.
Trump Plaza had the biggest decline at 26 percent, to $4.4 million.
So far this year, the 11 casinos and the 16 online sites have collectively won $831 million, down 6 percent compared with the first four months of 2013.
