Atlantic City casinos reported year-on-year gaming revenue rising in May, even without the help of their surging online gambling operations.
Figures released Wednesday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement show the state’s seven casino operators reporting brick-and-mortar gaming revenue of $208.3m, 2.5% higher than the same month last year and a significant rebound from April 2017’s $191m.
Throw in the $21.1m generated by the state’s licensed online gambling operators and May’s total gaming revenue is up 4.3% to $229.4m. Comparing only the seven casinos that were open in both this May and last – thereby excluding the impact of the now-shuttered Trump Taj Mahal – and the year-on-year brick-and-mortar gain rises to 10.7%.
April’s revenue numbers were dragged down by lackluster table game results but that wasn’t the case in May. While statewide slots revenue was down 3.6% to $144m, table game revenue shut up nearly one-fifth year-on-year to $64.3m.
All but one AC casino reported year-on-year improvements, and even the lone decliner was down less than 1%. Casino Control Commission chairman Matt Levinson called the results “a great start to the summer” and predicted continued gains as the city’s events calendar ramps up for the major tourist season.
While sites affiliated with the Borgata Casino Hotel ranked last on May’s online gambling revenue chart, the venue continues to rule the brick-and-mortar revenue roost. The Borgata reported just under $63.4m in May, up 12% from the same month last year.
Two Caesars Entertainment properties battled it out for second-place but Harrah’s ($29.5m) narrowly edged out Caesars Atlantic City ($29.4m) for the runner-up position. Harrah’s result was flat year-on-year while Caesars shot up 23.6%, the month’s single largest percentage gainer.
The Tropicana posted the month’s second-largest year-on-year percentage gain (20.7%), pushing its revenue total to $28.8m. The rest of the venues finished as follows: Golden Nugget ($18.6m, +4.8%), Bally’s AC ($18.1m, -0.3%) and Resorts ($15.3m, +9.8%).
