Atlantic City revenues continue to slide

Following on the heels of dismal results from Nevada land casinos during October, the news from Atlantic City is equally bleak.
Hopes that the worst was over for the New Jersey gambling mecca faded on the release of November numbers that showed another double digit decline as revenues for the city’s 11 casinos fell by 13.4 percent compared to the same month a year ago.
Associated Press reports that September and October had seen only single-digit decreases, giving the industry hopes that the turnmaround was in sight, but it was not to be.
Overall, the casinos won $299.3 million, with slots revenue accounting for $206.8 million of that total.
“There’s no sugar coating it,” Joe Weinert, senior vice president of Spectrum Gaming Group, a New Jersey casino consulting firm told Associated Press. “It’s another poor result for the Atlantic City casinos.”
There’s more pain in store for Atlantic City in the year ahead, Weinert said, because still more competition is coming. He noted the scheduled opening of the Sugar House casino in Philadelphia and live table games likely to begin operating in Delaware and possibly also in Pennsylvania.
Only one Atlantic City casino saw an increase in revenue in November, and that was minuscule: 0.1 percent at the Showboat Casino Hotel.
For the 11 months of 2009 thus far, casino revenues are down 13.5 percent compared with 2008.

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