Internet gambling revenues were up 16% in Atlantic City last month, for a $12 million haul. Resorts Atlantic City didn’t get 
much of the action — 6% — but the other four online operators divvied it up pretty equitably. As for the bad news, the Boardwalk was 6% down on a same-store basis. Since Labor Day weekend fell in August last year, that accounts for much of the decline. When the four defunct casinos are factored into year/year comparisons, the dropoff is a queasy-making 16%. Even without the Showboat in the mix, Caesars Entertainment was really in the dog days, down 17% at its three remaining properties. By contrast, Borgata beat the odds and improved 8% on last year’s performance.
Tighter hold and slightly greater volume of play conspired to generate a 22% increase in Borgata table revenue. Slot players enjoyed looser holds and reciprocated with 8% more coin-in but the house only saw 2% more win. Online wagering put another $4 million into the kitty. Overall, casinos saw 14% less coin-in and 15% less win. Low table play (-19%) translated into lower winnings, too, -20%. Boyd Gaming and MGM Resorts International‘s property grossed $71 million.
Trump Taj Mahal was predictably dreadful, falling 24% (to $19 million). At times like this you have to wonder why Carl Icahn 
wants the place, considering how badly — by his own declaration — it is run. However, the Taj’s performance was cast into the shade by a run of bad luck at Caesars Atlantic City ($31 million), which plunged 29%. It’s too early to say if the grind-joint repositioning of Bally’s Atlantic City ($23 million) is a winning strategy but August was unkind, seeing a 9.5% decline. Harrah’s Marina, for once, wasn’t a bright spot, off 9% ($35.5 million) either. Tropicana Atlantic City dropped 9.5%, to $28 million.
Borgata aside, there were a couple of big winners. The Golden Nugget leapt 20% (to $20 million) and Resorts Atlantic City ($18 million) continued its steady upward march, ascending 18%. On a historical note, Glenn Straub is kidding himself if he thinks casino gambling is a viable exit strategy for Revel: A year ago it only banked $12 million, compared to Borgata’s $66 million. With an infusion of Labor Day play, next month’s report should be robust — at least by recent Boardwalk standards.
* Congratulations to Victor Salerno, Lynn Valbuena and Larry J. Woolf. All three will be inducted into the Gaming Hall of Fame during the upcoming Global Gaming Expo. Salerno is a particularly deserving inductee, a real Horatio Alger story. He went from practising dentistry to inventing Computerized Bookmaking Systems and a raft of other sports-betting products, a track that took him to the chairmanship of William Hill US.
Valbuena, a former liaison for the National Indian Gaming Association, chairs both the Tribal Alliance of Sovereign Indian Nations and the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. Woolf made history with his attempt to open the MGM Grand as a non-union casino in 1993 and in his early adoption of ticket-in, ticket-out wagering technology, before going on to found Navegante Group. S&G congratulates all three on receiving the American Gaming Association‘s imprimatur of historical importance.
