Shuttered land casinos impact September stats for Atlantic City

The closure of three more land casinos in Atlantic City – Revel, Trump Plaza and the Showboat – has inevitably impacted September revenues released by the New Jersey Division of Gambling Enforcement, which released the latest monthly statistics Wednesday.

Overall revenues were down 13 percent on the same period last year despite the inclusion of internet activity, which had not started a year ago. Operators won $209.4 million, down 12.8 percent from $240.2 million in September 2013, Associated Press reports.

Slot machines contributed $147.8 million – down 16.6 percent y-o-y, whilst table game retuirns were down 18.5 percent at $51.2 million.

On the bright side, casinos that operated in both Sept. 2013 and 2014 posted a 9.1 percent increase in revenue.

On the internet gambling front, revenues remained subdued, with operators taking in $10.25 million, down 2.8 percent or $300,000 less than August 2014.

Borgata and its online partner Party Poker remained the top internet operator in the Garden State, winning $3.4 million from internet activity, with Caesars Interactive chasing on $2.6 million. Tropicana managed to clear the $2 million benchmark, whilst Golden Nugget recorded $1.1 million.

Trump Plaza, now shuttered, posted $767,870 from its online action, whilst Trump Taj Mahal, which is also in danger of closure, achieved internet earnings of $228,717.

Online poker revenues were down 7.3 percent to $2.09 million in September compared to the previous month, whilst online casino action declined 1.5 percent to $8.16 million.

The DGE reports that by the end of September 2014 New Jersey could boast 456,502 internet gambling accounts – up 6 percent on the preceding month.

So far this year, Atlantic City’s casinos have taken in a total of $2.04 billion. Operators hit their peak revenue of $5.2 billion in 2006; but by end 2013 the total had fallen to $2.86 billion.

About 8,000 Atlantic City casino workers have lost their jobs so far this year; another 3,000 would become unemployed if the Taj Mahal closes.