Internet saves Atlantic City; Hope for sports bettors

On March 16, both Atlantic City and Detroit closed their casinos, but the Boardwalk had it somewhat worse, down 62% in the truncated month. (The numbers suggest that visitation may have been tailing off prior to the shutdown.) Atlantic City grossed $85.5 million, with slots falling 65% and tables plunging 54%. Borgata toppled 67.5% (to $19 million), on 62% less table win and slot win plummeting 69% on 67% less coin-in. The Caesars Entertainment trio was down 61% with 56% less table win and 64% less slot lucre. Tropicana Atlantic City had, in context, a pretty good month at the tables, down only 37% (a triumph, given all the surrounding numbers) but a 62% slide at the slots. The Trop and Hard Rock Atlantic City tied for second place with $10 million each, with the Trop off 62.5% and Hard Rock -58.5%.

The smallest percentage tumble, -45.5%, happened at Ocean Casino Resort, which grossed $8 million. Harrah’s Resort was just under $10 million (-63%), Caesars Atlantic City grossed $9.5 million (-58.5%) while Bally’s scraped bottom with $5.5 million (-63%). Resorts Atlantic City was just shy of $6 million (-62%), Golden Nugget landed $7 million (-60%) and had to be thanking the gods for the strength of its online-gambling operation. Indeed, if there was a silver lining it lay in Internet wagering, which “boomed to unseen heights.” Still, gaming analyst Dustin Gouker cautioned that “it’s not enough to fully bridge the gap from the revenue lost from sportsbooks and Atlantic City’s land-based casinos.” ‘Net bets were up 66% year/year, grossing $65 million.

“Poker, which has languished for years in New Jersey, produced $3.6 million in revenue in March, beating the previous record of $3.1 million set in October 2016,” reported PlayNJ.com. The Golden Nugget lapped the field online, grossing $21 million, followed by Resorts Digital with $13.5 million, the first time Resorts has made more from the Internet than its terrestrial casino. Close behind was Borgata with $12 million.

Sports betting, with few sports upon which to bet, wilted to $182 million in handle (-51%) and $13 million revenue (-58%). 90% of the handle was generated online, led by FanDuel Sportsbook/PointsBet‘s $6 million in revenue. Except for Resorts Digital/DraftKings/Fox Bet‘s $5 million,
nobody else cracked the million-dollar threshold. The bulk of the action was placed prior to the March 11 suspension of NBA play. As analyst Eric Ramsey put it, “Until sports are able to get going again, New Jersey’s online and retail sportsbooks will continue to be uncomfortably quiet.” Added Gouker, “The bad news is there is no way to know when [resumption of play] will be, and it doesn’t appear that it will be particularly soon. This is going to be a long road, not just for sportsbooks, but for everybody.”

That sentiment was echoed by Dr. Anthony Fauci, who proposed a two-faceted approach to the resumption of the MLB season. A) Games would be played without fans in the stands and B) players would be regularly tested, staying under quarantine for the duration of the season. Given these constraints, Fauci believes would could say “Play ball!” sometime around the traditional All-Star Break. (Could players still be permitted to collide at the plate?) “People say you can’t play without spectators, well, I think you’d probably get enough buy-in from people who are dying to see a baseball game,” Fauci told a Snapchat interviewer. “Particularly, me, I’m living in Washington, we have the world champion Washington Nationals. I want to see them play again.” In the meantime, NHL Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs said resumption of hockey season was “highly speculative” but “very possible.” The only firmly set major-league sporting event is the PGA Players Championship, still on for June 25-28. Meanwhile, Boston Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy said that “Fauci has become a bit of an iconic figure and a hero to many of us right now and we’re hanging on every word—we need optimism and hope right now” … as do sports bettors.

* There’s not much to add regarding Motown. The numbers speak for themselves. MGM Grand Detroit grossed $24 million (-59.5%), MotorCity nabbed $20 million (-59%) and Greektown (-59%) brought up the rear with $13 million. Still, $57 million from only three casinos compares impressively to what Atlantic City did with 10.

* Every day brings dire Covid-19 news from Massachusetts. Given that state of affairs, the problems of three casinos don’t amount to a hill of beans, to paraphrase Humphrey Bogart. Bay State casinos all were closed in the wee hours of March 15. The statewide gross up to that point was $35 million, led by Encore Boston Harbor‘s $20.5 million. Encore’s table win was $11 million or $5,546 win/table/day, creaming MGM Springfield‘s $1,382. Win/slot/day at Encore was $213, for a $9.5 million haul. Plainridge Park got a bigger bang for its buck, grossing $283 win/slot/day, although revenue plummeted 70% to $5 million. (Slot win/day at the racino was $428 at this point last year, which shows what inroads Encore has made.) MGM grossed $9.5 million, plunging 63%. $7 million of that was slot-derived, with an average of $198 win/slot/day.

* The American Gaming Association has updated a statistic published in the Las Vegas Sun that 17% of tribal casinos are still open. According to the AGA, they are 100% closed. We appreciate the update (and the fact that the AGA reads us so closely).