The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) released on Tuesday a monthly report on the financial performance of the eight casinos operating on the territory of Atlantic City. According to the latest data, their gaming revenue increased 2.3% in March compared to the figures posted a year ago.
The gaming regulator, however, pointed out that there were eleven casinos operating in the city this time last year. If their revenue was added to the calculations, that would mean that Atlantic City’s overall gaming revenue has fallen 12.6% year-over-year. In other words, the total amount of $233.3 million was posted last March.
According to DGE’s data, March revenue generated by the eight remaining casinos amounted to $203.8 million compared to $199.2 million posted back in March 2014.
Matt Levinson, Chairman of the NJ Casino Control Commission, pointed out that the increase could be mainly attributed to revenue from online gambling, which according to the data released, was up 17.6% in March. He also said that gambling revenue for the first quarter of 2015 grew by 5.9% and online gambling revenue increased 19%.
Mr. Levinson commented that the eight remaining casinos in Atlantic City saw their revenue rise for seven of the past eight months. Furthermore, only a week ago, they posted a 12% rise in their gross operating profits for the past fiscal year. The official expressed hopes that the uptrend will continue, as new entertainment options are to be introduced in the city in the months to come.
As previously reported, four of Atlantic City’s twelve casinos closed doors in 2014. The Atlantic Club was shuttered in January 13. Revel and Showboat stopped operating on August 31 and September 2, respectively. Trump Plaza was closed two weeks later.
It could be said that the Golden Nugget performed best in March, as its revenue jumped more than 41% to $16.2 million. Revenue at Resorts and Tropicana was reported to have remained relatively flat for the past month. The first generated the total amount of $11 million and the latter posted revenue of $21.1 million. The Borgata was last month’s top performer generating more than $60 million, up 7.7% to what was posted this time last year. Harrah’s reported an increase of 11.4% to $32.3 million.
Trump Taj Mahal’s March revenue fell almost 23% to $14.7 million. Bally’s posted a 11.1% decrease to $15.8 million. Revenue generated by Caesars fell 4.1% to reach $23.2 million in March. A drop was also reported for Caesars Interactive, the casino giant’s online division. Revenue generated from those operations was down 24.3%.
Atlantic City’s overall online gambling revenue amounted to $13.2 million compared to $11.2 million in March 2014.
