Atlantic City Gaming Revenues Fall 5% in July

Fresh off hosting a summit on the future of gambling in New Jersey, Atlantic City casinos reported their July revenue, or “win,” this week. Year over year, casino revenues were down 5.0% to $363.9 million. All but two casinos reported decreases in win in July 2010 compared to the same month in 2009.

The big winner year over year was the Trump Taj Mahal, whose casino revenues of $47.2 million in July were 7.2% higher than the $44.1 million posted last year. The Taj Mahal is one of three Trump properties in the East Coast gaming metropolis. Meanwhile, Trump Marina saw its revenues tumble 13.4% last month year over year to $14.1 million, while Trump Plaza’s win dove 17.1% to $15.4 million. Trump Plaza’s dip year over year was the second largest percentage-wise that the New Jersey Casino Control Commission reported.

Besides Trump Taj Mahal, the only other casino to come out ahead in July was the Atlantic City Hilton. The property registered casino revenues of $19.3 million last month, a growth of 2.1% year over year. Basically breaking even was the Borgata, which will host a World Poker Tour (WPT) stop next month. The $3,500 buy-in Main Event has the lowest price tag of any televised tournament on the WPT circuit. The Borgata reported a win of $64.6 million in July, nearly the same as the $64.9 million registered during the same month last year.

Bally’s Atlantic City saw its revenues dip 4.4% to $44.6 million in July. Caesars Atlantic City, which will play host to a World Series of Poker (WSOP) Circuit Event next March, weighed in with revenues of $40.4 million, down about 10% from the $45.0 million reported in July 2009. Harrah’s Atlantic City, which also houses a WSOP Circuit Event every year, turned in revenues of $45.3 million in July, down 5.3%.

Resorts Atlantic City fared the worst of any of the state’s casinos in July. The property reported revenues of $15.9 million, down a whopping 19.3% from the $19.7 million reported in July 2009. Tropicana, meanwhile, nearly posted a double-digit drop year over year. Tropicana’s revenues of $28.4 million were off 9.5% in July from the same period last year. Finally, Showboat reported revenues of $28.8 million, off just 3.1% from 2009.

Over the first seven months of the 2010 calendar year, casinos reported a win of $2.1 billion, which is down nearly 8% from the first seven months of 2009. Resorts was hit the hardest for the same period year over year, as its win of $94.8 million translated to a 17.2% departure from last year’s tally at this time. No Atlantic City casino has posted a gain year over year through seven months, with Harrah’s fall of 2.5% being the closest to breakeven.

Casinos paid out 8% of taxable gross revenue to New Jersey’s Casino Revenue Fund, or $25.9 million. Year to date, the Casino Revenue Fund has received a $160.4 million windfall and more than $8 billion has been pumped into it since it was created 32 years ago. Casinos also sent 1.25% of gross revenues to projects undertaken by the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, which totaled $4.5 million in July. Year to date, the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority has received more than $26 million.

New Jersey may be one of the first states to adopt legalized and regulated intrastate internet gambling. A bill proposed by State Senator Raymond Lesniak was approved by a Senate committee in February and now awaits discussion in New Jersey’s legislature. Horse racing interests pervade the northern part of the state, while Southern New Jersey remains focused on land-based casino gambling.

Read the full Casino Control Commission revenue report.