{"id":918332,"date":"2026-06-18T11:47:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T18:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/?p=918332"},"modified":"2026-06-18T11:47:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T18:47:19","slug":"uh-oh-atlantic-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/blog\/uh-oh-atlantic-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Uh-oh, Atlantic City"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One news story today bravely tried to spin Atlantic City<\/strong>‘s flat May numbers as “marvelous<\/a>.” Meh. Glass half-full: <\/em>They weren’t off 2025’s pace. Glass half-empty:<\/em> At a time when regional casinos are outperforming Las Vegas<\/strong>, you’d expect Atlantic City to get some love. Perhaps we are starting to see an incremental effect of Class III gambling in New York City<\/strong>, which is bound to skim off some of the Boardwalk’s cream. Let’s agree to say that Atlantic City is holding its own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Table winnings were down 6% but slots were up 2.5%, so it was a wash. However, it’s a flattening of an Atlantic City trajectory that had been 5% higher this year. And iGaming set a monthly record. Hmmmm. People staying home to gamble in May? Not encouraging for the brick-and-mortar biz. Its future in doubt, Golden Nugget<\/strong> clung to last place and $12 million (3%), outpaced in the tortoise derby by Bally’s Atlantic City<\/strong> (above), which was up 6% to $12.5 million. Resorts Atlantic City <\/strong>dipped 1.5% to $14.5 million, to round out the grind joints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The outperformer of the A.C. bunch was Ocean Casino Resort<\/strong> (again), jumping 10.5% to $47 million. That ought to spook Hard Rock Atlantic City<\/strong>, down 4% to a still-robust $50 million. Borgata<\/strong>, of course, was tops with $73 million, even if it was flat year\/year. Caesars Atlantic City<\/strong> fared the best of the Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> troika, up 3% to $20.5 million. Harrah’s Resort<\/strong> sank 10% to $18 million while Tropicana Atlantic City<\/strong> was off 6.5% to $18.5 million. If Caesars\/Fertitta Entertainment<\/strong> has to shed a casino (as it surely will), the Nugget remains the lowest-hanging fruit.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Sports betting had a bad month, as winnings sank 17% to $85 million and handle shrank 10% to $919 million (numbers that would be the envy of every other state except New York<\/strong>). Upstart Fanatics<\/strong> bested legacy operator BetMGM<\/strong> $7.5 million to $7 million, while BetRivers<\/strong> couldn’t even clear a million. FanDuel’<\/strong>s $36 million clobbered DraftKings<\/strong>‘ $21.5 million despite a 25% swing in DraftKings’ favor. (Are customers tiring of FanDuel’s super-tight holds?) Caesars Sportsbook<\/strong> ($2 million) and theScore Bet<\/strong> ($1.5 million) earned participation trophies. iGaming saw BetMGM ($57 million) continuing to battle gamely for market share opposite FanDuel ($64 million) and DraftKings ($59 million). Caesars Palace Online<\/strong> put in a brave fight with $22.5 million and Fanatics was a surprise also-ran with $13.5 million. BetRivers did almost as well, $12.5 million, but Hollywood Casino<\/strong> was well to the rear with $3 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We suspect<\/strong> that our Atlantic City<\/strong> correspondent is of AARP<\/strong>-eligible vintage but hardly ancient. Which causes him to have a sobering insight on the dim future of the Golden Nugget: “About 10 years ago, my wife earned her Chairman Card and we visited their Chairman Club Lounge. Except for the employees, we were the youngest people in the lounge. I now wonder if some of GN’s customers are ‘ageing out’ of casinos.<\/em>” That’s as good a theory for the Nugget’s ongoing troubles as we can envision. After all, the Nugget isn’t as customer-hostile as Bally’s Atlantic City<\/strong> is reported to be.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Even more worrisome, in 2019, Tilman Fertitta<\/strong> was of the opinion that Atlantic City was a seven-casino market, at best. If we apply his logic to casino grosses, the marketplace is selecting Golden Nugget and Bally’s for extinction … certainly not any of the three Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> casinos Tilman aspires to own, even if their performance is but mediocre. How bad is it at the Nugget? Management only just got around to fixing a long-broken escalator\u2014and had to warn customers not to take put their wheelchairs on it. Egad! (Yours truly has to use a cane to get around, which means we won’t be riding the Nugget’s escalator anytime soon … see below.)<\/p>\n\n\n

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Over at Resorts Atlantic City,<\/strong> the casino reported one of its biggest-ever jackpots. A couple from New York State<\/strong> was down to their last $10 when they hit a payday of almost $2 million. Admittedly, that pales next to the $10 million just won at Westgate Las Vegas<\/strong> on a slot machine, but good for the lucky winners all the same. Better they should go to the Boardwalk and not MetLife Stadium<\/strong>. Traffic to and from World Cup<\/strong> matches is reported to be a royal clusterfuck, what with embargoed rideshares at the stadium and overpriced tickets ($100!) to use the train.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next door to New Jersey,<\/strong> casinos in the commonwealth that is Pennsylvania<\/strong> got some deserved good news this week when the state Supreme Court<\/strong> ruled that “skill games” are merely slots by another name. That means they’ve either got to go (70K machines at risk) or pay taxes on the order of 54%. “Sauce for the goose, Mr. Saavik<\/em>,” as Spock<\/strong> would say. We applaud the Supremes’ Solomonic ruling, which Keystone State politicians may try to subvert with some legislative jiggery-pokery on behalf of the sleazy, convenience-store slots and to the detriment of casinos. Let’s hope for the best.<\/p>\n\n\n

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In the meantime, Pennsylvania’s gambling halls were up 1.5% when new Happy Valley Casino<\/strong> (the source of some very unhappy burghers) was subtracted from the mix. The newcomer opened April 27 and booked $3.5 million in May, not bad for a brand-new satellite casino. With two exceptions, results from around the Keystone State were pretty mild. Smoke-free Parx Casino<\/strong> was flat at $52.5 million but continued to crush the Philadelphia<\/strong> market. Next-best in Philly was Philadelphia Live<\/strong> with $24 million as it jumped 13% and put a hurt on Rivers Philadelphia<\/strong>, tumbling 7.5% to $19 million. Harrah’s Philadelphia<\/strong> slipped 2% to $11.5 million, bested yet again by smaller Valley Forge Resort<\/strong> ($13 million, -1%). Across the state in Pittsburgh<\/strong>, despite a 3% slippage Rivers Pittsburgh<\/strong> was still potent with $30 million. Pittsburgh Live<\/strong> was up 3.5% to $10.5 million, while Hollywood Meadows<\/strong> hopped 5.5% to $18.5 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most puissant of the outstate casinos was Wind Creek Bethlehem<\/strong>, up 6% to $46 million. Mohegan Pocono<\/strong> was up a point to $19 million, while Mount Airy Resort<\/strong> gained 1.5% to $18 million. Presque Isle Downs<\/strong> dipped 2% to $9 million, Hollywood Penn National<\/strong> gained a point to $14.5 million and cult casino Lady Luck Nemacolin <\/strong>regained its mojo with $3 million (4.5%). Amongst the satellites, Hollywood York<\/strong> led with $9.5 million (2.5%), followed by Hollywood Morgantown<\/strong>‘s $7 million (below<\/em>, 4%) and Parx Shippensburg<\/strong>‘s $4 million (7%).<\/p>\n\n\n

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Like the Garden State, Pennsylvanians were so-so about sports wagering. Books plunged 11% to $68 million, as handle slumped 9% to $596 million. FanDuel<\/strong> outpaced DraftKings<\/strong>, $28 million to $19 million, with Fanatics<\/strong> ($4 million) the best of the unimpressive rest: Bet Rivers<\/strong> ($3 million), BetMGM<\/strong> ($3 million), theScore Bet<\/strong> ($2 million) and Caesars Sportsbook<\/strong> ($1 million). iGaming was 9% higher to $255 million, led by $70 million. BetMGM was next with $42.5 million, then BetRivers ($41 million) and DraftKings ($40.5 million). Then came Caesars Palace Online<\/strong> ($15 million) and, way back, Hollywood Casino<\/strong> ($6 million).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before we go,<\/strong> we should note a “blue” state that is falling down on the responsible-gaming job. That’d be Michigan<\/strong>. It’s not as bad as Texas<\/strong>, where gambling addicts are welcome to go to hell. But that’s a low bar to clear. Out of a $27 million annual tax haul from casinos, OSB and iGaming, only $9.5 million goes to addiction treatment<\/a>. Mind you, Michigan is one of the biggest states in the U.S. for gambling. In fact, the Center for Addiction Science, Policy & Research<\/strong> doesn’t just give the Wolverine State an F. It gets an F-minus. According to the Center, Michigan “allows online gaming platforms to offer bets even to people exhibiting addictive behaviors<\/em>.” Yup, collect the taxes and look the other way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The inception of OSB has caused reported addiction problems to balloon and it’s a situation predominantly afflicting those low on the income scale. In 2025, Michigan’s Gambling Disorder Helpline<\/strong> was swamped with 3,933 calls. Self-exclusion, meanwhile, has grown exponentially (to put it mildly) since 2021. $9.5 million may sound like a lot of money to spend on responsible-gambling programs but only three U.S. states and territories do less than Michigan. Clearly, they’ve got a gambling problem up there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One news story today bravely tried to spin Atlantic City‘s flat May numbers as “marvelous.” Meh. Glass half-full: They weren’t off 2025’s pace. Glass half-empty: At a time when regional casinos are outperforming Las Vegas, you’d expect Atlantic City to get some love. Perhaps we are starting to see an incremental effect of Class III […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83928,"featured_media":918333,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1728],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Ballys-high-limit-slots-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1525&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918332"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83928"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=918332"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":918345,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/918332\/revisions\/918345"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/918333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=918332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=918332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=918332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}