The downward spiral of the Atlantic City gambling market continues with no end in sight. Atlantic City’s casino gambling revenue fell 7.1 percent in April marking a continuing 4 1/2-year slump for America’s quickly diminishing second-largest gambling market.
The numbers continue to head in the wrong direction for AC as competitors in nearby markets continue to steal customers. Atlantic City has been losing business to Pennsylvania’s 10 casinos, as well as gambling markets in New York, Delaware and even Connecticut.
Figures released Tuesday show the city’s 11 casinos took in $289.4 million last month. Slot machine revenue fell 3.4 percent, to $208.6 million, while table game revenue decreased by 15.4 percent, to $80.9 million.
The saddest part about the situation in AC is that gambling industry professionals are finding themselves out of jobs. At the beginning of the week, the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa laid off 50 workers, citing competition and the poor economy, and Trump Entertainment Resorts also let go an undisclosed number of workers at its three casinos.
Numbers are down all the way across the board with the exception of Caesars and Resorts Casino Hotel as the only two casinos posting revenue increases. Caesars Atlantic City was up 5.6 percent to $38.3 million, and Resorts Casino Hotel was up 4.3 percent to $14.5 million. After that, it gets ugly.
The Tropicana Casino resort which recently sacked president Mark Giannantonio, took the worst hit as revenues plummeted by 19.8 percent to $19.2 million. Next on the futility line was Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, which saw a 19.3 percent decline to $13.2 million, even the Borgata saw a 11.3 percent decline.
We are now in May and after four months of 2011, Atlantic City’s casinos have won $1.1 billion, down 7.2 percent from the same period a year ago.
