Three straight monthly declines in casino revenue to start 2018 resulted in Atlantic City casinos suffering an 11.7 percent drop in operating profit for the first quarter compared to 2017.
The city’s casinos saw the declines as a series of winter storms battered the East Coast this year, but the figures still comes as two new casinos are about to re-open in the resort. In June, the Hard Rock Atlantic City is scheduled to open on the site of the former Trump Taj Mahal. On the same day, Junes 28, the Ocean Resort casino is scheduled to open on the site of the former Revel casino.
That has analysts worrying that the city can’t sustain such an expansion in operating casinos. However, city officials and some analysts feel the openings could re-invigorate the city’s market.
“The numbers make it pretty clear it wasn’t a great quarter for the casinos,” said James Plousis, chairman of the casino commission in a press statement.
Plousis, however, said a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing states to legalize sports betting could also be a boon to the city moving forward.
According to an Associated Press analysis of figures released by the state Division of Gaming Enforcement, the Borgata had the highest operating profit for the quarter at $45 million, which was down more than 27 percent from the same period last year.
Harrah’s was next at $28.4 million, up 18.7 percent from a year ago, and Tropicana was third at $17.4 million, up 6.5 percent.
Caesars had an operating profit of $12.5 million down 38 percent from 2017. The Golden Nugget’s $10 million operating profit was up 61.5 percent from a year ago.
Bally’s, at $6.2 million, was up 38.2 percent from last year’s first quarter, and Resorts fell to a profit of $1.6 million, down from $4 million in the same period last year.
Online only companies were mixed with Caesars Interactive-NJ posting an operating profit of $2.9 million, up nearly 39 percent from last year, while Resorts Digital fell to an $815,000 operating loss after a $570,000 operating profit in the first quarter of 2017.
In some other Atlantic City notes, some planned events for the upcoming summer season were announced.
Live Nation announced pop singer Demi Lovato will perform July 26 as part of the city’s BeachFest Concert Series. The three-year, $6 million agreement requires Live Nation to bring at least six beach concerts or events that attract 30,000 attendees or more to the resort, according to the Press of Atlantic City.
The series opens July 1 with country music star Sam Hunt and ends July 29 with electronic dance music duo the Chainsmokers.
Also, The Miss America Organization announced that the 2019 Miss America Competition will air live on ABC Networks on Sunday Sept. 9 from the city’s Boardwalk Hall.
The pageant’s future in the resort was clouded by a recent scandal involving e-mails from top pageant officials criticizing former pageant winners. That caused some local legislators to call for cancelling the pageant’s contract with Boardwalk Hall.
However, the pageant has replaced most of its board and top officials and the state Casino Reinvestment Development Authority—which operates Boardwalk Hall—decided to honor the agreement for this year’s pageant.
