Atlantic City has once again had a good year in 2018. New Jersey’s casino city finished off the year on a high note, with Gross Gambling Revenue (GGR) increasing nearly 20% compared to December 2017. With the strong performance in December, Atlantic City was able to win more than $2.85 billion from its nine casinos, online casinos and sportsbooks. This is the best Atlantic City has performed since 2013!
Atlantic City has Best Year Since 2013
When adding in the revenue from Meadowlands and Monmouth Park, the state’s gambling industry won over $2.9 Billion. The sportsbooks located at these two race tracks won $94 million since their sportsbooks went live. This is now the third year in a row that Atlantic City has seen its GGR grow.
While the increase in GGR suggests that Atlantic City is making a strong comeback, there is more to the story. Unfortunately, it’s not all as good as the initial headlines make it seem. Out of the city’s seven casinos that were open before June, only one of them saw their GGR increase. June was a significant month, as it saw the Hard Rock and Ocean Resort open their doors.
Not All Good News Though
The Golden Nugget was the only casino that saw its GGR increase in 2018. Even with the introduction of sports books, Bally’s GGR was down 9.1%, Borgata saw a 4% drop, there was a 13.5% drop at Caesars, 8.4% at Harrah’s, 2.5% at Tropicana, and a 3.3% decrease at Resorts. This all added up to these six casinos earning $143 million less than they did the previous year. Before Hard Rock and Ocean Resort opened, many were concerned that Atlantic City could support seven casinos, not nine. The worry was that the two new casinos would simply take business from existing properties.
This looks like what has happened, but at least it is relatively minor at the moment. The chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission isn’t overly concerned at this time. However, other analysts are concerned that Atlantic City needs to reinvent itself to become a more popular tourist destination for general families. If not, some worry that there just won’t be enough customers to support nine casinos all year round.
