{"id":20770,"date":"2017-12-14T09:43:40","date_gmt":"2017-12-14T17:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=20770"},"modified":"2017-12-14T09:44:25","modified_gmt":"2017-12-14T17:44:25","slug":"atlantic-city-theres-life-after-trump-bluhm-dominates-in-pennsylvania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/atlantic-city-theres-life-after-trump-bluhm-dominates-in-pennsylvania\/","title":{"rendered":"Atlantic City: There’s life after Trump; Bluhm dominates in Pennsylvania"},"content":{"rendered":"

Finally liberated from year\/year comparisons that included the dying Trump Taj Mahal<\/strong>, casinos in Atlantic City<\/strong> experienced 3% revenue growth last month. Internet<\/strong> gambling did even better, leaping 20%. For the lifetime of ‘Net betting in New Jersey<\/strong>, this brings the \"\"gross to $700 million and columnist Steve Ruddock<\/strong> predicts it will hit the billion-dollar mark by the end of next year. He said,\u00a0\u201cThere’s the potential for super-sized growth in the year ahead. New Jersey is already in the process of linking up with Nevada<\/strong> and Delaware<\/strong>, and is exploring even more liquidity sharing options with Pennsylvania<\/strong> and international markets.” Ruddock added,\u00a0\u201cNew Jersey online casinos will generate some $245 to $250 million in 2017. That is better than 100 percent more than the industry generated in 2014, when total yearly revenue was just $123 million.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the beneficiaries were the state itself, which has generated over $39 million in online-tax revenue so far this year and Golden Nugget<\/strong>, which continues to lead all Atlantic City casinos in Internet-gaming gross. As for brick-and-mortar gambling, casinos grossed $186 million, led by — need I say it? — by Borgata<\/strong>. Its haul was $60 million on the dot, up 5%. Table game winnings were up 6% on only a slight uptick in wagering while slots were up 5.5% but coin-in rose 6%. Though the numbers were different by an integer here or there, the rest of the A.C. casinos paralleled Borgata’s fortunes.<\/p>\n

The anniversary of a Trump-free Atlantic City brought an ironic twist for Caesars Entertainment<\/strong>, which lost market share for the first time in 14 months. Presumably \"\"there are no more Trump Plaza<\/strong> and Taj refugees to be welcomed through the Roman columns. Bally’s<\/strong> was down 5% to $15.5 million. Caesars Atlantic City<\/strong> grossed $23 million, up 8% but normally reliable Harrah’s Resort<\/strong> slipped 7.5% to $28.5 million. The man who put the Taj out of its misery, Carl Icahn<\/strong>, grossed $26.5 million at Tropicana Atlantic City<\/strong>, up 4.5%. Among the lone wolves, Golden Nugget raked in $17.5 million, up 4%, and Resorts Atlantic City<\/strong> grossed $15 million for an impressive $18.5 million gain.<\/p>\n

The next competitive worry for casino owners is a bill in Trenton<\/strong> that would allow Internet-gambling venues at the Garden State’s parimutuels. However, this bitter pill is being sweetened with the requirement that the ‘Net-bet services be run either by an Atlantic City-supported platform like PokerStars<\/strong> or by an A.C. casino itself. So it’s not that<\/em> big a fright.<\/p>\n

* Across the border in Pennsylvania, slot revenues for November are in and the Keystone \"\"State is up 1% from last year. Only Mohegan Sun Pocono Downs<\/strong> was revenue-negative (-3%), while the majority of the industry was flat. The gains were mostly driven by Neil Bluhm<\/strong>‘s\u00a0Rivers Casinos<\/strong> (+6%) and\u00a0SugarHouse<\/strong> (+4%) and small-but-plucky Mount Airy<\/strong>, vaulting 12.5%. The top grosser was Parx Casino<\/strong> ($30 million), meaning that Sands Bethlehem<\/strong> ($24 million) will have to outperform at the tables to regain the #1\u00a0spot.<\/p>\n

* This is my favorite news story<\/a> of the day. It certainly demonstrates the dangers of staging excessively faithful recreations of the Nativity<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

* Johnny Avello<\/strong> isn’t posting Oscar<\/strong> odds yet but, on the strength of the Golden Globes<\/strong>\u00a0nominations<\/a>, I would say emetic Sally Hawkins<\/strong> is the odds-on favorite for Best Actress, since she’s playing a mute — a gambit the Academy can never resist (nor will the Hollywood Foreign Press<\/strong>). Just ask Jane Wyman<\/strong>, Holly Hunter<\/strong> and Sir John Mills<\/strong>. Meanwhile, playing a historical figure is a can’t miss career choice, so awards-givers should start engraving statuettes for Gary Oldman<\/strong> in Darkest Hour<\/em>. Based on the trailer, I’m tempted to say his is the best cinematic Winston Churchill<\/strong> yet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Finally liberated from year\/year comparisons that included the dying Trump Taj Mahal, casinos in Atlantic City experienced 3% revenue growth last month. Internet gambling did even better, leaping 20%. For the lifetime of ‘Net betting in New Jersey, this brings … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[98,23,82,164,172,7,37,11,167,10,91,207,95,178,33,111,12,129,21,169],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20770"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20770"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20777,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20770\/revisions\/20777"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}