In short, January's Atlantic City revenue numbers are -9% at the tables and -10% in slots. The glass-half-empty spin is that this is the third straight year of decline. The glass-half-full perspective would be, yes, but it's -9% the fifth-highest January in Atlantic City history (with '06 being the high-water mark). And if you were at Trump Taj Mahal, you had no complaints whatsoever.
In sheer dollar volume, Bally's Atlantic City got hammered, down from $45 million to $37.6 million. Only the newly revamped Taj posted an increase in revenue, going from $38 million a year ago to $42 million this year. The in-flux Trump Marina (-8%) has at least temporarily bottomed out — at last place in dollar volume, behind even insolvent Resorts Atlantic City. (Because of disparities of scale, this can be a deceptive metric, though.)
Aside from the Taj's non-aberrant 10% gain, the closest thing to victory could be declared by Harrah's Marina, only -2%. Both properties cleaned up at the tables (+22% and +19%, respectively), while Borgata did so at the slots (+16%) — a good thing in the latter case, because the Boyd Gaming property got slaughtered in table play, -26%. However, it could take cold comfort in the fact that Trump Plaza (-29%), the Atlantic City Hilton (-32%) and Resorts (-36%) all fared worse. Luck just isn't with Resorts/Hilton owner Colony Capital these days.
The second-best showing in slot win was the Taj (+2%), with the Tropicana Atlantic City in third place with -6%. The worst clobberings were absorbed by Resorts again (-22%), Bally's (-23%) and Showboat (-24%). Overall, the Taj edged Caesars Atlantic City (-8%) out of the top tier, back toward the Trop (ditto). Thanks to the Taj makeover, Atlantic City has four "haves," four "have-nots" and a couple of Harrah's Entertainment properties that could go either way. Plus the ever-mystifying Trop, of course.
