Atlantic City casinos to record third straight year of growth

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atlantic-city-casino-gaming-revenue-annual-growthAtlantic City casinos were firing on all cylinders in the month of November, with all verticals (and most venues) posting positive growth.

Statistics released Thursday by New Jersey’s gambling regulator shows the city’s nine casinos generated combined slots-and-table gaming revenue of just below $224m in November, 7.1% better than November 2018 and 10.7% better than October 2019’s result.

November’s slot machine win gained 5.7% year-on-year to $156.8m while gaming table revenue rose 10.5% to $67.1m. Throw in the $49.1m from online gambling and $15.5m from sports betting and AC’s total casino gaming win for the month was up 16.5% to $288.6m.

Year-to-date slots and table win is up 7.7% to $2.48b, which already exceeds 2018’s full-year brick-and-mortar gaming win of $2.41b. Once December’s figures are in, AC will have officially posted its third consecutive year of positive revenue growth after its many years of decline.

Counting the online gambling and betting verticals, AC’s overall gaming revenue is up 15.7% to $3.02b in the first 11 months of 2019 versus $2.86b in all of 2018.

For a change, only three AC casinos reported negative growth in November, with Resorts Casino Hotel suffering the biggest percentage loss ($13.9m, -15.5%). The Tropicana dipped 6.9% to $23.65m and Bally’s was off 6.7% to $13.4m.

The Borgata topped all comers as usual with slightly more than $59m (+5.8%), which was more than twice the sum earned by runner-up Caesars, which had a surprisingly solid month, rising 27% to $28.3m. Harrah’s placed third with $25.6m (+0.9%) while the Hard Rock Atlantic City fell to fifth place with $23.5m despite a 9.3% year-on-year improvement.

The biggest percentage gain came from the newly energized Ocean Casino Resort, which shot up more than two-thirds to $19.5m. OCR’s rebirth since its takeover by New York hedge fund Luxor Capital Group was symbolically underscored this month when Terry Glebocki was named its new CEO, making the property the only AC casino with a women at the helm.

The Golden Nugget braved its own uncharted parth by earning just over $17m in November, nearly $2m below what the property’s online casino earned last month. That’s the second month in a row that the Nugget’s online arm has outshone its land-based operations.