Things are looking up for remaining Atlantic City Casinos
News on 8 Apr 2016
News on 8 Apr 2016
The Press of Atlantic City reports that figures released Thursday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement show that in 2015 all eight surviving Atlantic City land casinos returned operating profits.
Collectively, the eight casinos saw operating profit increase 40 percent last year, reporting $547 million in gross operating profit in 2015, up from $390 million in 2014.
“To me, that’s an indication that the market is stabilizing after several years of turmoil,” Casino Control Commission Chairman Matthew Levinson commented in a statement.
The Press of Atlantic City points out that gross operating profit is a key measure of casino performance that takes into account many of the short-term costs of casino operation – paying for supplies and employees, for example – but excludes some larger expenses, such as taxes.
The eight survivors have benefitted from the closure of four casinos back in 2014.
Notable among the results was that from Resorts Casino Hotel, the smallest of the AC casinos, which reported a five-fold increase in gross operating profit to $15.6 million in 2015 compared with 2014.
The Borgata Casino Hotel & Spa also saw stellar improvements, realising $216 million in gross operating profits – a year-on-year rise of 36 percent.
The regulator reported that gambling revenue increased 3.1 percent overall to $2.5 billion in 2015 among the city’s eight extant operators.
However, the regulator cautioned against complacency, noting that “industry total” – numbers including the 2014 results from the four failed casinos – are less pleasing in comparative terms.
From that perspective casino revenue actually declined 6.5 percent in 2015, room revenue was down 14.1 percent, food and beverage sales dropped 9.1 percent, and entertainment and miscellaneous revenue slid 15.9 percent.
