Good news from an unexpected source

Atlantic City hit the big 3-0 in February: 30 straight months on revenue declivity, says J.P. Morgan (31, according to Wells Fargo). However, the rate of decline (1.4%) was the smallest since April of last year. With Genting Bhd‘s racino at Aqueduct coming on line sometime after June and Valley Forge Convention Center‘s resort casino getting the green light, the Boardwalk isn’t done dodging bullets.

Still, slot revenue increased for the first time in three years and handle was up, which it hasn’t been since the end of 2006. Weak hold percentages took table-game revenues down 13%, though. And it could be argued that, after a disastrous February last year (-16%), there wasn’t that much farther to fall. Last year, $258 million would have been good only for second-to-last status, with the market hitting bottom in December, at $237 million.

Congratulations are in order, first of all, to Resorts Atlantic City, where the new regime of Dennis Gomes produced a 16.5% revenue increase last month. Even hard-to-sell Atlantic City Hilton managed to show a 4% upswing, while Trump Marina is just hanging in there, waiting for Tilman Fertitta to take over. At $9 million (-7%), its stranglehold on last place is complete. Trump Plaza had the worst percentage decline (-15%) while Trump Taj Mahal eked out a 1% gain, leaving the Trump portfolio down 5% for the month..

Of the Caesars Entertainment foursome, Bally’s (-11%) and Caesars Atlantic City (-3%) lost ground, while Harrah’s Marina and Showboat both posted 2% growth — although that wasn’t enough to forestall a 3% aggregate decline. Borgata enjoyed a 3% bump but Carl Icahn‘s Tropicana Atlantic City didn’t share in the relative prosperity, down 6% year/year.

There’s treachery afoot. Never mind that the administration of Gov. Chris Christie (R, left) has come out firmly against casino gambling at Meadowlands, Jim Kirkos, CEO of Meadowlands Liberty Convention & Visitors Bureau, is putting his fingers in his ears and hollering, “Lalalalala, I CAN’T HEAR YOU!” The latest Big Idea for M’lands renewal is — you guessed it — a 1,000-room casino-hotel, with 150,000 square feet of gambling space, projected to generate$1.6 billion in annual revenue. (After the gross overstatement of potential Ohio casino revenues by Penn National Gaming, we should probably lop 40% of all revenue projections in all sales pitches of this ilk.)

“Significant policy and legislative activity” would be required first, understated spokesman Ron Simoncini. No kidding! Like getting Christie and the Lege to do a complete 180 on the Atlantic City rescue kit they just enacted. “Our view of that, the seven or eight years it would take for that facility to open will tell us about Atlantic City’s situation. Atlantic City will either be over by then or it would have recovered by then and building something in the Meadowlands [left] has nothing to do practically with whether or not the Atlantic City can succeed or not.”

Full disclosure: I went to college with Ron, we were in a theater production together and he’s a great guy. But plunking a casino megaresort in East Rutherford will have “nothing to do practically” with the viability of the Boardwalk? Ron, we have to talk! If Atlantic City survives the Pennsylvania onslaught and then Aqueduct, a M’lands casino could be the last nail in the city’s coffin — or at least the market force that puts five or six casinos there out of existence.