Atlantic City: Online Gambling Leads to revenue win

The regulator in New Jersey released new figures relating to the revenue of the casinos in Atlantic City. The casinos managed to increase their revenue in 2016 by 1.5% compared to the previous year, to 2.6 billion dollars. The last time the casinos saw an increase in revenues was in 2006, since then the revenues had been declining. Due to this decline, a lot of the casinos had to close their doors, and the number of casinos dropped form 12 to 7, which also meant that 11,000 people lost their jobs. One of the last casinos to close was the Trump Taj Mahal, which was opened by president-elect Trump in 1990 and closed on October 10, 2016. The Trump Casinos played a major role in Atlantic City, however, the decline of revenues led to most either closing or being sold.

Although the situation for the land-based casinos has been rather grim, the online industry in New Jersey recorded a massive growth. Last year the revenues grew by 32% up to $197 million.

New Jersey is one of the three states in the United States that allow and regulate internet gambling, and in comparison with Delaware and Nevada, it is the largest market. The revenues are achieved by 5 casinos in the state, the Borgata with $47 million, the Golden Nugget with $42.2 million, Caesars interactive with $38.6 million, Tropicana with $36.9 million and Resorts Digital with $31.7 million.

Another positive development was also seen by the 7 and-based casinos in Atlantic City, as they also recorded increased revenues from gamblers visiting the establishments. Revenues grew by 2.1% to 2.28 billion dollars. However, if the closed-down Taj Mahal is included in this calculation, the collective revenues decreased by 0.3%. Including the revenue from table games, slots and online services, two of the seven casinos saw a decline in revenues, namely the Harrah's (down 4.2%) and Caesars (down 2.7%).

Borgata is Atlantic City's top casino

The biggest winner last year was the Borgata Casino. Revenues last year reached 769 million dollars, which was more than double the amount that the next competitor, the Harrah's, took in. The Golden Nugget and the Tropicana recorded an increase of 9% and revenues grew to $251.9 million and $341.1 million respectively.

December was also a good month for the casinos in Atlantic City, and they saw an increase in revenue of 8.6% to 208 million dollars.

The director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, David Schwartz, also reminded that Atlantic City should not solely rely on revenues from gambling, it is also important to focus on tourism and diversification of other services.