Fewer visitors coming to the nine Atlantic City casinos, that’s according to DGE, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.
On the other hand, Internet gambling and online sports betting are breaking records.
Critical ‘in-person’ gambling not looking good overall. That hurts local business, families, and those who depend on a diversified Atlantic City economy.
New Jersey monthly gaming revenue continues to decline.
Gambling revenue in New Jersey increased 9.4% year-on-year in November, however monthly revenue continues to decline in H2 2023.
MGM Resorts’ Borgata is most lucrative property in the state, bringing in casino win of $51.7m. This however was down 6.1% compared to November 2022. Bally’s saw the largest year-on-year growth, with casino win up more than 20%. iGamingBusiness.com
The most important metric for Atlantic City’s economy is IN-PERSON gaming, not online or sports betting.
Year over year, in-person gambling in Atlantic City:
- Hard Rock up 16.7%
- Ocean Casino up 1.4%
- Bally’s up 20.4%
- Borgata down 6%
- Harrah’s down 7.6%
- Tropicana down 6.8%
- Caesars down 7.7%
- Resorts down 0.2%
- Golden Nugget down 3%.
Stockton University analysts spin the numbers. Online and in-person gaming don’t compete they say. Rather, they compliment each other. Ugh. From the casino perspective, that might be true. NJ State is certainly happy with their cut off the top.
In-person gamblers do more than just gamble away their kids college fund. They fill restaurants, hotels rooms, retail stores and entertainment venues.
Hard Rock and Ocean Casino Resort. Both had more in-person gamblers in Nov. 2023 compared to Nov. 2019.
Golden Nugget online gambling up 33% year over year.
Stockton Analysts: There will never be a replacement for the in-person gaming experience. Flat revenues from brick-and-mortar gaming may be simply evidence of a stable market. It remains to be seen how the surge in online and sports betting affect the casinos’ overall profitability.
Stockton rarely provides guidance on how casino revenue affects the local economy.
Recall when legalization came in 1978, casinos were supposed to revitalize a broken town. Atlantic City had a 40 year head start, and blew it.
Online revenue is split with tech partners and online sports books. Atlantic City is lucky to get a few remaining scraps.
Multiple mayors going to jail. A dangerous, dysfunctional school system. Police and Fire Dept cut backs. Homeless living under the boardwalk, sometimes setting it ablaze. Open drinking and pot smoking. 14 year-olds beating up and car-jacking senior citizens. Cops facing abuse from teens. Officers always wondering when they’ll be targeted for prosecution, as criminals are coddled.
Online gambling and sports betting, no matter how successful, does very little for the City of Atlantic City.
The potential for 3 new casinos in Manhattan should set off alarms. Years of promises and campaign slogans that proclaim we must diversify our economy.
Internet gaming and sports betting made up 50% of all Atlantic City casino revenue in November 2023.
Press of Atlantic City pushing ‘woke’ journalism, Avoiding tough issues.
Remember when Gov Murphy took orders from big pharma and locked the entire State down? (unless you were protesting something, fighting cops, or looting stores at Tanger Outlets)
AC is home to a large scale needle exchange directly within the ‘tourism district’. Let that sink in.
AC has over 1,300 short term rentals. No additional commercial taxes from this industry. No regulations. No enforcement. A magnet for transient crime and neighborhood decline.
Until Atlantic City stops rampant crime, businesses will continue to leave town. Families will avoid moving here. Real estate values will languish.
Just wait until the 1040 ft wind turbines are built 9 miles off the beach in clear view from the beach. No one wants a view of an electric power plant and an industrialized ocean from a casino restaurant or beach front hotel room. The competitive advantage of the ocean view that attracts customers to the casinos in AC will be lost. The bricks and mortar casino business is going to tank! Wave goodbye to the AC casino businesses.
Just guessing that you have zero issue with the status quo of oil and gas, and the drill baby drill mentality that funds the anti-wind agenda…. Newsflash: people don’t go to a place that’s a gambling and entertainment Mecca for the view, and they spend precious little time in their rooms.
The United States has decreased its carbon emissions every year the past 20 years as other countries whom are expanding economically are increasing the carbon emission ten fold.
In 2022, China approved the building of 2 coal plants per week! Look it up and research it if you choose not to believe. While we try and change the whole supply to pamper to green tech and specific data points that justifies either side of political spectrum, we forget that the whole supply chain needs to built.
The metals, the lithium and many other parts come from different areas of the world. Needless to say , there is technology that’s extracts carbon out of the air and we should be investing in that in order to reverse the course of green house emissions.
No matter what America does, the rest of the world is not and will not follow it.
Why invest in the infrastructure to build a supply chain on something that will take decades to actually make impact with these wind farms. The net impact of carbon emissions building these will take 50 years to justify its means of net negative impact on emissions and with salt water and hurricane force winds hammering these every year, I doubt they will be a net negative on carbon foot print over the next 100 years.
Only guarantee is in the immediate future it will increase the carbon footprint building them.
Atlantic City needs to reinvent itself once again because the rollercoaster of Atlantic City history looks and appears as if the ride is going down for now.