ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) - Atlantic City’s casino revenue declined by 1.5 percent in September compared to the levels of a year ago.
The eight casinos that operated in September took in $226.6 million that month. There are now seven casinos, following the closing Monday of the Trump Taj Mahal.
The decline would have been much worse had it not been for a continuing boost from internet gambling, which was up 35 percent in September to $16.2 million compared with $12 million in September 2015.
Brick-and-mortar casinos took in $210.4 million for the month, down 3.5 percent from a year ago. Slot machines accounted for $147 million, while table games brought in $63.4 million.
Four of the casinos posted increases, led by Resorts, which was up 10.6 percent to $16.8 million. The Golden Nugget was up 9.5 percent to $21.5 million; the Tropicana was up 8.1 percent to $29.2 million, and the Borgata was up 2 percent to $67.6 million.
Four posted declines, led by the Taj Mahal, which lost more than half its revenue from a year ago as it struggled amid a union strike while its shutdown neared. The Taj was down 51.2 percent to $8.1 million in September, compared to the $16.6 million it won in September 2015.
Harrah’s was down 8.3 percent to $28.9 million; Caesars was down 3.9 percent to $29.8 million, and Bally’s was down 3.6 percent to $18.1 million.
Matt Levinson, chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, said September casino business was hurt by threatening weather over the crucial Labor Day weekend.
He said September was “a month marked by a threatened hurricane, a state of emergency, and two cancelled beach concerts over the long Labor Day weekend and the winding down of operations at the Trump Taj Mahal. Despite all of those obstacles, half of the casinos reported increases for the month.”
September marked a rare changing of the guard atop New Jersey’s internet gambling market, with the Golden Nugget dethroning the Borgata as Atlantic City’s top online performer. The Golden Nugget won $3.6 million online, compared with $3.3 million for the Borgata, $3.2 million for Caesars Interactive-NJ, $3 million for the Tropicana, and $2.9 million for Resorts Digital.
But the online market remained almost evenly divided among its five competitors.
For the first nine months of this year, Atlantic City’s casinos have seen their revenue increase by 1.6 percent. Internet gambling revenue is up nearly 33 percent over that same period.
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