Things continue to look up for the Boardwalk. Last month, Atlantic City casinos showed a 2.5% revenue increase on a same-
store basis. Toss the dead weight of Trump Taj Mahal out of the year/year comparison and the growth is an impressive 6.5%. Better days really seem to be ahead for Atlantic City, if they’re not already here — and the reinvention of the Taj as Hard Rock Atlantic City should grow the market further. As for Glenn Straub at Revel, he’s drifted off into irrelevance.
Market leader Borgata grossed $70 million (+8%), with table revenue up 23% on only 3% higher volume — the house played very lucky. By contrast, slot handle was up 6% but the house only kept 3% more than last year. Citywide, slot revenue of $153.5 million was up 4.5% on 6% less coin-in, while table action was up 5% but the house took home 2.5% ($58.5 million).
“Caesars [Entertainment] continues to benefit from the Trump Taj Mahal closure in October 2016,” wrote Deutsche Bank analyst Carlo Santarelli. However, the numbers do not 
seem to bear him out. Bally’s was 2% down, at $18 million, Caesars Atlantic City ($30 million) was flat, while Harrah’s Resort was the lone beneficiary, grossing $31 million for an 8% uptick. Instead, ex-Taj players would seem to be flocking to the Tropicana Atlantic City, up 14% to $30 million. As for the also-rans, Golden Nugget grossed $19 million (+5.5%) and Resorts Atlantic City $18 million (up 5,5%).
Resorts Digital had some good news to report in the online sphere, where it got some belated oomph from PokerStars, pushing it past the Trop and Caesars Interactive to 17.5% of 
market share. Golden Nugget, powered by Betfair, continues to own this category, with 28% of market share. This is the seventh consecutive month in which Internet gambling has broken past the $20 million mark, up 26% from last year. “Online gambling now accounts for some 10% of all casino revenue generated by Atlantic City casinos, which is a staggering total for such a young industry,” said columnist Steve Ruddock.
Brick-and-mortar casinos benefited from one extra weekend day of business but there can be no question that Atlantic City has right-sized itself and the outlook remains bright. Send a copy of these numbers to those politicians who want to put a casino in the Meadowlands.
* In Detroit, the lion didn’t roar last month. MGM Grand Detroit had one of its lower-grossing months, down 1% to $48 million. Both MotorCity and Greektown captured some of that market share with the former up 4% ($38.5 million) and the latter 2% higher at $27 million.
* Having captured the Millennials, the nightclub industry now looks to conquer a grayer demographic. Whether Generation X cottons to $250 bottles of vodka remains to be seen.
