On Wednesday, New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement revealed that Atlantic City’s nine casinos reported total brick-and-mortar slots and table game revenue of $196.7m in February, up 15.7% year-on-year and nearly $20m better than January’s result.
February’s slots revenue was up 12.4% to $139.5 while table games jumped by nearly one-quarter to a little over $57.1m.
February’s numbers look even gaudier when you include the nearly $3.9m the casinos earned from their sports betting operations and the $31.75m earned by their online casino and poker operations. All told, the casinos’ overall gaming revenue was up 21% to $232.3m.
But of the seven casinos that were in operation in February 2018, only two – Caesars Atlantic City ($19.5m, +10.7%) and Resorts Casino Hotel ($14.7m, +23.3%) – posted year-on-year gains. Both properties’ gains were primarily due to extra table revenue, with Resorts’ tables up nearly $3m and Caesars improving over $2.2m.
The other five casinos all suffered net declines, led by the Borgata ($50.6m, -7.9%), the Tropicana ($24.152m, -6.8%), Harrah’s ($24.147m, -14.5%), the Golden Nugget ($16m, -7.2%) and Bally’s AC ($12.75m, -10.3%).
Bally’s slide proved a net positive for the struggling Ocean Resort Casino, which finally shed its cellar-dweller status with a $13.76m result. AC’s other new casino, Hard Rock Atlantic City, had a solid month with $21.1m, a welcome rebound from January’s $15.6m, which represented a record low for the eight-month-old property.
With March Madness just around the corner, AC’s casinos (at least, those with in-house sportsbooks) are hoping to get a boost from the increased foot traffic when March’s revenue numbers are tallied. Speaking of, bookmaker William Hill just opened a new permanent sportsbook at the Tropicana, featuring eight betting windows, a 250-square-foot odds board, an array of LED screens and enough seats to accommodate up to 180 bettors’ butts.