US – Atlantic City falls despite two new openings
Despite the reopening of two of the five Atlantic City casinos that had closed in recent years, the overall Atlantic City casino market has reported a drop in revenue in the third quarter.
In the first full quarter of operation for Hard Rock and the Ocean Resort casinos since opening on June 27, the now nine gaming floors saw profits decline by 15.3 per cent in July, August and September compared to last year.
Whilst Hard Rock reported a $8.2m profit and Ocean Resort $1.4m, the two new properties ate into the revenues of the remaining seven with only two reporting an increase in profits. These were the Golden Nugget, which increased its gross operating profit by 6.6 per cent to $13.6m, and Bally’s, which secured a half of one per cent increase to $18.3m.
James Plousis, Chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, said: “Industry profits were down in light of the new competition that entered the market. On a positive note, compared to last year, over 6,300 more people were working in the industry and there were nearly 5,400 more full-time jobs.”
The worst affected property was the Tropicana where profit fell by $31.8m, down more than 31 per cent from last year. The Borgata dropped by 22 per cent to $63.1m, and Resorts fell by 14.7 per cent to $9.1m. Harrah’s fell by 5.6 per cent to $35.9m and Caesars dropped by 2.5 per cent to $28.6m.
