Atlantic City resurgent

Casino bosses on the Boardwalk will probably find some tortured way to put a sky-is-falling spin on November’s excellent numbers but it will be difficult. The $224 million Atlantic City gross is as good as in 2019 and a 4% boost from last year. Although Although table winnings were 16% off the pre-pandemic pace, a surge at the slots (+7%) more than compensated. Borgata was the pace car, accelerating 11.5% to $57.5 million, hotly pursued by Hard Rock Atlantic City ($44 million, +7%) and Ocean Casino Resort ($34 million, +8%).

If the newer properties were the haves, the Caesars Entertainment jumble was the have-not. Customers shunned Harrah’s Resort ($18.5 million, -5.5%), Tropicana Atlantic City ($16.5 million, -6.5%) and Caesars Atlantic City ($16.5 million, -6%), the latter sinking almost into the grind-joint tier. Resorts Atlantic City, by contrast, leapt 12% to $14 million, while Golden Nugget reached $11.5 million, up 6.5%. Management upheaval at Bally’s Atlantic City hasn’t achieved much, judging by a 10% plunge to $11 million.

Online gambling had its best month ever, reaching a boffo $214 million (+25%). DraftKings and BetMGM were deadlocked at $51.5 million, while FanDuel wasn’t far behind at $49 million. Caesars Palace Online brought in $18 million. Sports betting was every bit as strong, with revenues jumping 24% to $119 million, despite a steep decline in handle (-24.5%) to $1.2 billion. FanDuel bested DraftKings here, $49.5 million to $35.5 million. BetMGM was a distant third at $10.5 million but still fared better than Caesars Sportsbook ($5 million), Fanatics ($3.5 million) and ESPN Bet ($2 million).

Let it never be said that corresponding with a casino doesn’t get results. One S&G reader shares his gratifying experience with Golden Nugget General Manager Tom Pohlman below …

We will be staying at GN over next weekend. We would like to stay at GN more often, but don’t for two reasons: A) the $30/night ‘resort fee’ and B) no free late checkout. We’re staying next weekend due to the ‘resort fee waiver’ for Elite Level players (my wife) for the month of December. For a comparison, Ocean Casino offers her a nominal fee, and one-hour, free late checkout. Borgata offers her no fees and a two-hour, free late checkout. And Bally’s offers her no fees and a three-hour late checkout. We stopped going to Hard Rock this year, don’t go to Resorts and don’t go to the three Caesars properties.

My suggestion for you and Golden Nugget is to do a ‘market test,’ and offer both Elite level players and Chairman players no resort fees, and at least a one-hour, free late checkout for the winter months. I’ve read on Nov 19th, Golden Nugget needs to bring back as many active players as you can to restore your AC market share. I read in the Las Vegas Advisor e-mail newsletter section called “Stiffs and Georges” by David McKee, that Golden Nugget had its revenue slip to $9.5 Million, below Bally’s $11.5 Million, and Resorts’ $12 Million.

My wife has a host at Bally’s, who maintains email, text and phone contact with her. Each month Bally’s has at least one event for Legend players. When she became an Elite player, GN gave her a host … who sent her one e-mail, and nothing else! When she recognized him at GN, she told him he was supposed to be her host. He didn’t ask her name and didn’t ask if there was anything he could do for her. I’m glad that Bally’s cares about their customers. [Editor’s Note: Ouch!]

Well, that sparked results. The following Tuesday, the missus got a phone call from a Nugget host, who offered a free, 2 p.m. checkout and a $125 food credit. George! In fact, this was the third time that a missive to Pohlman brought a speedy answer from the Golden Nugget. We’re glad to highlight any casino that gets it right (as the Nugget did) in customer relations. Kudos, Mr. Pohlman and staff.

Things were less encouraging at Bally’s Atlantic City. The Jerry Longo’s restaurant is closed for the season, leaving the ‘resort’ without any sit-down dining. The alternatives are three fast-food options, including a pizzeria. Oh, there IS Park Place Prime, but at $30 for a humble hamburger, it’s not reasonably or realistically priced, especially for such a low-roller joint as Bally’s. And to think that this is the crown jewel of Soo Kim‘s casino empire.

While on the subject of Bally’s, our East Coast correspondent made a runout to Bally’s Dover in the lovely state of Delaware (we’re not being faceitious). On the plus side, Bally’s Christmas tree was even bigger than Borgata‘s. On the minus side, slot machines by the dozen were out of service. Our reporter estimates it was 50% of the slot inventory for three days—plus ALL the machines in the high-limit area. Bally’s had four of the popular, new Whitney Houston slots—all out of action. To add insult to injury, “My player’s card didn’t work. They gave me new cards, but the employee deleted my pin.” Our guy asks: “I don’t believe I mentioned that each Bally’s casino property requires its own unique player’s card. How can Bally’s do such a bad job with almost everything?” It’s easy. It’s coded into Bally’s DNA. By sharp contrast, all the slot machines were in action at nearby Harrington Raceway. Our customer also received a “nice” food credit that he deployed in the Harrington steak house. “It was great food.”

Outside the casinos, fair Atlantic City remains as shambolic as ever. The city purchased luxury buses to transport students and seniors to its precincts. A local resterateur responded that it would have been cheaper to rent the buses, rather than pay for their upkeep, etc. Embattled Mayor Marty Small (D, above) fell back on his fail-safe strategy, accusing the man of being “racist” for questioning the allocation. Meanwhile, residents of Stanley Homes are having to go without heat … until January! Our man on the Boardwalk reports, “There are over 100 units that can’t be occupied right now. The poor people have been put up in hotels where they can’t cook anything, and complain they have not been given promised food vouchers. Two years ago, the Court ordered the Atlantic City Housing Authority to provide ‘consistent heat and hot water’ to the Stanley Homes apartments. The ACHA has paid a ‘Housing Consultant’ called 360 Group over $800,000 to oversee the work being done (mostly unfinished). The ACHA also increased the contract amount from $3.5 million to $5.5 million.”

Jottings: Before we leave Atlantic City altogether, be it know that the sad little Christmas tree above was the best that Ocean Casino Resort could manage. For shame, Bill Callahan! … Casinos continue to grow in Kentucky. The newest is Owensboro Racing & Gaming, which opens Feb. 12. It will feature 600 slots, er, “historical horse racing machines.” Gotcha … Smoking opponents are launching a pincer movement in the Midwest. They’re lobbying the legislatures in both Missouri and Kansas to ban the noxious practice in casinos. If both states were to extirpate it, gamblers would have almost nowhere to flee … Always eager to cozy up to China, the brass at Las Vegas Sands (now with 100% less Las Vegas!) is underwriting a new institute at UNLV. Its purpose will be to promote Chinese language and culture, never a bad thing in parochial Sin City … Speaking of Sands, it’s also co-opted the NBA, restoring exhibition roundball to Macao for the first time in almost two decades. The series kicks off at Venetian Arena with the Brooklyn Nets and Phoenix Suns in October 2025 …

DraftKings CEO Jason Robins was feeling expansive toward his competitors, saying magnanimously that smaller sports books could still flourish, so long as they “figure out how to survive at smaller levels of scale.” We don’t disagree but it’s mighty white of Robins to allow competition to continue, especially at a time when Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D) is looking into possible antitrust measures against the DraftKings/FanDuel duopoly … Jim Murren‘s folie de grandeur, CityCenter, has been retroactively renamed Aria Campus. Which is an even worse moniker and unlikely to stick. This incredibly corporate-sounding redub is yet another attempt to perfume an $8.5 billion pig that is synonymous with construction-related deaths, incompetence (the Vdara Death Ray) and costly writeoffs.