Garden State gamblers once again preferred to stay home and wager, as iGaming managed to handily outgross Atlantic City. Also, sports books were spectacularly unlucky, as World Cup bettors continued to take them to the cleaners. Casinos in Atlantic City were flat, year/year, as a 1.5% uptick in slot win was negated by a 6.5% sinkage at the tables. Despite a 6% reversal, Borgata was tops (of course) with $72 million. Hard Rock Atlantic City was up a point to $46 million, while Ocean Casino Resort was close behind at $43.5 million (flat).
Players generally hewed to the newer and higher-end casinos, as all the grind joints had a bad June. Resorts Atlantic City fell 9% to $13 million, Golden Nugget Atlantic City plunged 10% to $10.5 million and Bally’s Atlantic City reclaimed last place with $10 million, a 7.5% stumble. By contrast, Caesars Entertainment enjoyed good fortune. Caesars Atlantic City jumped 8% to $22 million, Harrah’s Resort leapt 15.5% to $20 million and Tropicana Atlantic City climbed 8.5% to $19.5 million.
In sports betting, New Jersey matched New York State‘s dismal 5% hold rate, with $912 million in handle fizzling into $57.5 million in revenue. FanDuel easily fared the best with $24 million, as DraftKings managed $14 million and BetMGM did $5.5 million. Neither theScore Bet nor BetRivers scared up as much as $1 million, unlike Caesars Sportsbook ($1 million) and Fanatics ($3 million). The palm for iGaming went (narrowly) to FanDuel and its $62.5 million. Runners-up were DraftKings ($57.5 million) and BetMGM ($56.5 million). Caesars Palace Online did a respectable $21 million, trailed by Fanatics’ $13.5 million, BetRivers’ $11 million and Hollywood Casino‘s $3.5 million.
Catching up with our Atlantic City correspondent, he had some interesting dispatches, like these observations on the players’ lounge at Caesars Atlantic City: “The menu was extremely limited: The only entree was fish, the only vegetable was string beans and there was a small salad. If you don’t like it, go hungry. (I forgot to ask if there was any dessert.) My daughter took a photo of the wine they serve: Liberty Creek … only sold in 1.5 Liter bottles. It’s on sale at Shop Rite Liquor Store for $8.02 per bottle right now. It’s decent quality ‘table wine.'” Don’t loyal players deserve better?
Bally’s Atlantic City continues to spare no effort to hang onto last place. Its recent gambits include yanking all the chairs from its so-called “seating area” for valet parking. As usual, the motto at Bally’s Corp. seems to be “Customers? Who needs ’em?” Incidentally, a House of Dragons slot machine at Bally’s was observed to advertise “Top progressive jackpot paid in 20 annual installments,” totaling $1.2 million. The same machine at Borgata did not mention the annuity and showed a lower jackpot amount, to boot. Funny … and score one for Bally’s for candor. Below, by the way, is a recent view of the bustling Bally’s players’ club lounge. Hmmmm.
Sparing expenses seems to have been the order of the day at the Golden Nugget, currently circling the drain that is Tilman Fertitta‘s wooing of Caesars Entertainment. Red-plastic lanyards given out at the Nugget had the unfortunate side effect of bleeding all over our reporter’s shirt and neck. One pithy guest at the Nugget’s show—band Slippery When Wet—observed that the combo should have slithered out the back door from whence it had entered.
eBay, take note! Recently found in a New Jersey closet was a towel from the long-gone, long-forgotten Trump World’s Fair casino. Before its interregnum and demise under Donald Trump, it had been the Playboy Casino. But Playboy couldn’t get a permanent license, so it became Atlantis Casino. Alas, allusions to lost cities were only too apt, as it wound up in bankruptcy, where Trump found it and threw good money after bad. He should have left well enough alone but when Trump’s got an idea, good luck talking him out of it.
Speaking of ex-casinos … earlier this week Sam’s Town Tunica made headlines by dint of being demolished, yet another blow to the town that gamblers forgot. That called to mind a 2007 issue of Strictly Slots magazine, unearthed by our man on the Boardwalk. The periodical featured the announcement of a $1.9 billion mega-project slated for Tunica: six casinos, a water park and an indoor (!) golf course. Sounds like the sort of thing into which Gary Loveman would have plunged money. Anyway, it (obviously) never bore fruit and a good thing too. Would the last person leaving Tunica please turn out the lights?
Bonus nostalgia: Remember when $100,000 felt like real money? Those were the days …
