Atlantic City impresses in July

It reopened in somewhat raggle-taggle fashion but Atlantic City is back and did rather better in July than Las Vegas in June (the last month for which we have data, see video below). Borgata made a very delayed re-entry into the market, so we will discount its performance for now. Trends at the Caesars Entertainment quartet were a 31% slide in gross gaming revenue (and slots) and 27% less won at the tables. It outperformed the Atlantic City market as a whole, which was down 47%. But wait, the glass is even more half-full: Sports betting leapt 65%, led by Meadowlands with 48% of market share and Resorts Digital with 28%. Revenues were a very impressive $29.5 million. Internet gambling may be a hard habit for the Garden State to break: Online revenues vaulted 123% to $87.5 million. No prizes for guessing the dominant performer: Golden Nugget with 36% of market share, followed by Resorts Digital again. Remarked analyst Eric Ramsey, “Especially after the last few months, it’s a sobering thought to imagine where the state’s gaming industry would be without online gambling.”