Contrary to this morning’s gloom-and-doom headlines, casinos in Atlantic City did just fine last month. Big Gaming is probably spinning the numbers as bad ones in order to evade A) smoking bans and B) higher taxes. Gambling revenue was $244 million, 1% above last year and 3.5% higher than pre-pandemic 2019. The downside is that the upside was driven by but four casinos out of nine. Bally’s Atlantic City charged out of last place with a 9% surge to $13.5 million. Borgata hopped 6% to $64 million (no surprise there) and Hard Rock Atlantic City rose 12% to $48.5 million. Tail-end Charlie Golden Nugget even managed a 6% jump to $12.5 million.
Ocean Casino Resort (above) had a surprise setback, down 4% to $33.5 million. CEO Bill Callahan might want to shred that speech he gave about how Ocean was going to be Atlantic City’s top-performing casino on his watch. The remaining grind joint, Resorts Atlantic City, slipped 2% to $15 million. The Caesars Entertainment menage-a-trois continued its downward drift. Caesars Atlantic City slid 11% to $19 million, Harrah’s Resort tumbled 15.5% to $17.5 million and Tropicana Atlantic City dipped 4% to $20 million. None of that is chump change but Caesars is being outgrossed by Borgata singlehandedly. And Hard Rock is coming on rapidly.
The apparent turnaround at Bally’s coincides with some property improvements, according to our Boardwalk dispatcher. He says Bally’s “did a great job” refurbishing Legends Lounge. Furthermore, “Bally’s finished the new, blue carpet in the high-limit slot room and is installing many new slot machines there this month.” He also reports having a super dinner at Park Place Prime, good enough to keep him coming back. Also, both the lounge and valet parking are open all week now.
If you can’t beat ’em, hire from ’em, seems to be the new Bally’s A.C. motto. It recently wooed four hosts away from Ocean, out of six new representatives. Good work. “There’s a rumor that these former Ocean hosts will bring a lot of ‘high level’ players to Bally’s,” says our source. “I believe the reason the Ocean players want something else is that Ocean has no other casinos. Bally’s has a bunch of other casinos (didn’t say they were good ones) to offer to players.”
Sports betting didn’t have a great month for operators in New Jersey, with revenue falling 9% in June on handle of $748 million, +27%. FanDuel elbowed aside DraftKings, $29 million to $14.5 million, while BetMGM ($4 million) outperformed Caesars Sportsbook ($2 million), Fanatics ($2 million) and ESPN Bet ($1.5 million). iGaming was comparatively boffo, with $186.5 million in revenue distributed betwixt DraftKings ($49 million), BetMGM ($41.5 million), FanDuel ($37.5 million), Caesars Palace ($16 million) and BetRivers ($7 million). Hollywood Casino made $3 million and sundry “other” operators combined for $32.5 million.
In other Garden State news, Sen. Robert “Gold Bars Bob” Menendez (D) was convicted on all 16 counts of his corruption case. Considering how brazen Gold Bars Bob was in his misconduct, he was asking for it. Good riddance to him and may the judge throw the book at him.
After the Great Recession of 2008, we repeatedly cautioned that the good old days of 2007-8 were never coming back. John Acres says (indirectly) that we weren’t wrong, despite latter-day prosperity. Adjusted for inflation, Acres says, current gaming industry revenues are still lagging 2008 ones by 5%. He event went so far as to say, “The casino industry is in trouble.” Why? “Our revenues say that we don’t provide our players with self-esteem at the same level that we did 15 to 16 years ago.” Ain’t that the truth! The business mogul blamed part of the problem on the depopulation of casino floors after ticket-in/ticket-out made slot attendants disposable: “Customers used to go in and have a personal relationship with these attendants. Today, no one is there to ask, ‘How’s your dog Spot?’ or ‘How are you doing today?’”
However, Acres backtracked by saying that casinos should 86 players who win too much. If you canned your top five video-poker players, he argued, “the casino would save $700,000 a year in wasted rewards and greater win on the machines.” In that regard, he was singing straight from the Caesars Entertainment hymnal. Why not worsen blackjack odds while you’re at it? Shhhh! Forget we said anything. Big Gaming is probably already plotting that move.
Jottings: The Mirage closed last night. Global Gaming Business Editor Jess Marquez writes that it was “Arguably the most influential property in Las Vegas‘ history.” We think he’s correct and that the point is not arguable in the slightest. Built for $640 million, The Mirage ushered in the ongoing era of themed casino megaresorts and still wears its years lightly. It will return in 2027, rebranded as Hard Rock Las Vegas. We hope that George the Duck is left alone in his solitary splendor. We’d have written more about the twilight of The Mirage but the Las Vegas Review-Journal has been “flooding the zone” in true Howell Raines fashion … All systems are go for a November vote on whether Petersburg, Virginia, will be the site of a new Cordish Gaming casino. A spurned Virginia Lege could still try to thwart the vote but has not yet given any indication of doing so. Keep your fingers crossed for Petersburg … Until Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) gets her act together, there’s no sports betting in Washington, D.C. Incumbent OSB provider FanDuel was offline yesterday, and both BetMGM and Caesars Sportsbook have to twiddle their thumbs instead of going district-wide. Bowser has until July 25 to keep dawdling … In a decisive turn of events for iGaming, three Ohio GOP lawmakers have come out in favor of it. “While the state should proceed with caution and care with any expansion of this magnitude, with the right regulatory framework, these types of gaming can thrive with nominal impact to our current system,” wrote the trio, to whom the rest of the Lege should listen.
Love reading your work and your views. The idea that Borgata > all 3 Caesars Resorts properties in results is stunning. And, this is after most of the Caesars renovations were completed! Have them pay me a consulting fee and I’ll test a year bringing back the Laurel lounges in their fullest version, and watch the numbers change. I haven’t played there a penny since the cutback in their offerings/room locations.
There’s a good reason that the Caesars group is losing market share. ~ They insult their players who go to the player’s club lounge. The “food” is pretzels or potato chips, that’s it, the only choice. They time the players, and after one hour, they are told to leave. There’s also a 4 drink limit. If you want more, you must go back to the gaming area and play more $$. ~ FYI, all the other Atlantic City casino player’s clubs serve real food. ~ Surprise, Borgata has the best food, and some very expensive alcohol available if you want it.