{"id":762,"date":"2008-06-11T14:06:00","date_gmt":"2008-06-11T22:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/blogs\/dmckee\/index.cfm\/2008\/6\/11\/Good-news-for-the-Boardwalk"},"modified":"2008-06-11T14:06:00","modified_gmt":"2008-06-11T22:06:00","slug":"good-news-for-the-boardwalk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/good-news-for-the-boardwalk\/","title":{"rendered":"Good news for the Boardwalk"},"content":{"rendered":"

May 2008 was only the fourth-best May in Atlantic City<\/b>’s 30-year history of casino gambling, but it was good enough to qualify as cause for celebration. The New Jersey Casino Control Commission<\/b> has the full breakout<\/a>, from which a few highlights may be extrapolated.<\/p>\n

Table games<\/b> were once again the Boardwalk’s savior, propelling a 1.6% year\/year revenue increase. Let’s hope Pennsylvania solons don’t get it into their heads to add craps, 21 and baccarat to their ‘slot parlors.’<\/p>\n

Slot winnings<\/b> were a mixed bag, with the notable exception of Caesars Atlantic City<\/b>, which either got its clock cleaned or has driven slot players away, down -10.4%. Still, even with slot win down -1.5% overall, more casinos were in the “plus” column than the “minus” one, 6-5.<\/p>\n

Positive slot results at Tropicana<\/b> and, particularly, Resorts Atlantic City<\/b> was negated by unlucky table play, down -8% and 16%, respectively. While Trump Marina<\/b> remains the market laggard, it had a bonny May at the tables, +22.7%, overshadowed only by Trump Taj Mahal<\/b> (+31%) and Harrah’s Marina<\/b> (+37.5%). Both the A<\/b>tlantic City Hilton<\/b> and Borgata<\/b> posted double-digit gains, too.<\/p>\n

Although six casinos posted decreased wins, exceptional months at the Taj (+11.4%) and Harrah’s (+9.8%), plus a good month at Borgata (+4.9%) were enough to drag the Boardwalk into the “plus” column overall. As far as sheer volume of win was concerned, tops was Borgata (who else?), at $64 million, trailed by Bally’s Atlantic City<\/b> ($53 million). Harrah’s, Caesars and the Taj were bunched together to form a kind of “second tier.” At $35 million and $33.7 million, respectively, the Showboat<\/b> and Tropicana formed the third echelon. Bringing up the rear were the Hilton, Trump Plaza<\/b>, Resorts and the Margaritaville-to-be<\/b>, Trump Marina.<\/p>\n

The Press of Atlantic City<\/i> has the "why" of the good numbers<\/a>. It's amazing what a little sunny weather will accomplish.<\/p>\n

Colony Capital<\/span><\/b>, Resorts’ owner has finally confirmed that it did<\/i> put in a formal bid for the Tropicana. That’s a relief, as a rerun of Colony’s ‘phantom’ bid for Aztar Corp.<\/b> (announced, never submitted), would have given Colony a reputation for a weak trigger finger. <\/span><\/p>\n

But if Trop trustee Justice Gary Stein<\/b> wants to draw the sale process out any further, he’d better be darn sure he’s going to get bids comfortably above the $850 million-$950 million range currently on the table. Colony, Cordish Cos.<\/b> and those publicity-averse New York bidders – all of whom appear to have bargained in good faith – have reason to feel skeeved at the moment.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

May 2008 was only the fourth-best May in Atlantic City’s 30-year history of casino gambling, but it was good enough to qualify as cause for celebration. The New Jersey Casino Control Commission has the full breakout, from which a few … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23,60,95,25],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762"}],"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=762"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}