Atlantic City casinos end three-year revenue growth streak in 2020

Atlantic City casinos snapped their three-year gaming revenue winning streak in 2020, with an uncertain future ahead in 2021.

On Wednesday, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement announced that Atlantic City’s nine casinos generated combined brick-and-mortar slots and table game revenue of $147.1m in December, a 29.5% decline from the same month last year but effectively unchanged from November 2020’s $146.6m.

December’s slots revenue was off 34.4% year-on-year to $98.4m while table games slid a relatively modest 16.8% to $48.7m. All but one casino reported year-on-year declines in December except the Hard Rock Atlantic City, which somehow managed a 1.7% improvement to $26.3m.

December’s biggest decline was at Caesars Entertainment’s Harrah’s property, which slid 52.7% to just $12.1m. Other notable decliners included the Golden Nugget ($8.2m, -42.9%), the Tropicana ($13.6m, -42.2%) and Resorts Casino Hotel ($7.2m, -41.9%). The market-leading Borgata fell 27.9% to $39.6m.