Atlantic City revenues continue to fall

Atlantic City gambling revenues continue to be a cause for concern, although the decline seems to be slowing, according to September statistics released late last week.
Revenue fell by 5.8 percent compared with the same month in 2008, an improvement on the 16 percent decline reported in August
Casinos took in $335.4 million in September, and four operations actually saw revenues increase. Slolt machines delivered the best revenues at $231.8 million, but this was still down 5 percent on last year’s numbers.
Table games were down 6.9 percent at $103.5 million.
Mark Juliano, CEO of Trump Entertainment Resorts which owns three Atlantic City casinos, told Associated Press: “I hope we’re seeing signs that things are starting to stabilize. Perhaps the double-digit (declines) might be behind us. The real question is how long until we get back to the results we saw in past years, which is the question everyone in every business has.”
Don Marrandino, eastern division president of Harrah’s Entertainment Inc., said the while the results were helped by a Labor Day weekend that fell entirely within September this year as opposed to last year, it still felt better to see a smaller decline.
The news agency reports that the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa returned to its customary place as the industry leader in September, posting a 6 percent increase. Other gainers included Resorts Atlantic City (up 3.9 percent); Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City (up 3.1 percent); and the Tropicana Casino and Resort (up 1 percent.)
The biggest decline was recorded at the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, where revenues were down 16.5 percent, followed closely by the Atlantic City Hilton Casino resort (down 16.3 percent).
For the first nine months of the year, Atlantic City’s casino revenues are down 14.2 percent, Associated Press reports, noting that Atlantic City is in its third straight year of declining revenues that began when slots parlours started opening in Pennsylvania in 2006.

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