Atlantic City received a blow this September as the revenue made via slot machines and table games decreased. It was a serious hit as the expectations were rather high, mainly since September 2018 was a great month for all casinos in the area.
The gaming regulators of New Jersey issued a report which focuses on all gaming services in land-based casinos — mainly slot machines and table games. According to them, the total amount of money made in Atlantic City in September 2019 was $225.5 million.
Compared to September 2018, there is a 3.2 percent drop. Moreover, September was the first month in 2019 that displayed signs of fatigue. The first nine months were rather amazing, showing an 8.5 percent increase and earning a total of $2.05 billion.
The revenue for slots in September was down by 4.5 percent in a year-on-year comparison, as one-armed bandits managed to earn a total of $159.2 million. The state of affairs remained relatively the same for table games as they managed to create a revenue of $65.3 million.
On the other hand, when we look at the first nine months of 2019 and compare them to the same period of 2018, slots made an increase of 7.6 percent, earning a total of $1.47 billion, and table games made even better progress of 10.6 percent and earned $584.3 million.
However, things are actually much better than they seem for the city in New Jersey, as online casinos should also be taken into account. They earned a total of $41.1 million in September as the number of online players is still increasing.
Finally, there’s one very important aspect of gambling in Atlantic City that also needs to be considered for the equation, and that is sports betting. This type of entertainment alone brought about a record $39 million in revenue. With these two activities included, the revenue is actually $283.2 million, meaning that it actually increased in a year-on-year comparison, and it is up by 4.1 percent.
Individual Casino Numbers
Atlantic City currently features nine casinos, but only two of them managed to record revenue gains for slots and table games in September that were positive. The two casinos are actually newcomers to the market: Hard Rock Atlantic City and Ocean Casino Resort. They attracted a lot of visitors lately and displayed some great figures.
The September chart awarded second place to the Hard Rock Atlantic City as it managed to create a 14.1 percent increase, which includes earning a total of $29.6 million in revenue. However, the ultimate September chart-topper is Ocean Casino Resort, which made a 38.6 percent jump, having earned $20.7 million. Nevertheless, both Hard Rock AC and Ocean did not manage to meet the amount of money they earned in August.
The revenue chart is still led by The Borgata Casino, which earned a total of $57.5 million and recorded 5.1 percent year-on-year. Other casinos mainly recorded a decline. The next one on the list was Harrah’s, which earned a total of $26.5 million (2 percent decline). Tropicana and Ceasars also did pretty bad in September. Tropicana earned $25.5 million, but it was a decline of 14.7 percent, while Caesars earned only $19.4 million with a decline of 15.7 percent.
Overall, Atlantic City is still doing great despite minor setbacks that happen on the way. All casinos are working hard on providing the best slot and table games and making a better offer of online games and sports betting options.
