Atlantic City casino revenue down 1.3 percent in October

Atlantic City's casinos brought in 1.3 percent less in October than they did a year ago, but the state's Internet gambling operations were up significantly over the same period.

Figures released Friday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement show the city's eight casinos brought in $204.5 million last month, compared with $207.2 million in October 2014.

Internet gambling remained a bright spot: The casinos' online gambling operations won $12.9 million from gamblers in October, compared with $9.5 million in October 2014, an increase of 35.6 percent.

For the first 10 months of this year, the casinos have won $2.16 billion, down 7.7 percent from the same period last year.

Resorts had the biggest monthly gain compared with October 2014, up 21 percent to $14.8 million.

Golden Nugget's revenue was up 10.6 percent to $17.6 million, the Borgata was up 10.5 percent to $61.1 million, and the Tropicana was up 4.4 percent to $24.6 million.

Caesars' revenue was down 25.2 percent to $22.6 million in October, compared with $30.2 million a year ago; the Trump Taj Mahal was down 18.7 percent to $13.6 million; Harrah's was down 9.8 percent to $29.1 million, and Bally's was down 2.6 percent to just over $17 million.

The casinos brought in $141 million at slots in October, a decline of just under 1 percent. They brought in an additional $50.5 million at table games, down 8.8 percent from a year ago. Those combined figures would have seen the casinos' revenue decline by 3.1 percent, had it not been for the bounce they got from Internet gambling, which brought the overall revenue decline to 1.3 percent in October.

So far this year, the casinos have won $121.6 million online -- almost exactly what they won in all of 2014.

The figures also show that New Jersey's Internet gambling market, which initially was a two-horse race between the Borgata and Caesars Interactive, has become much more evenly distributed. The Borgata had the largest share last month at nearly $3.5 million, but three others were close behind: Caesars at $2.9 million; Tropicana at $2.85 million and the Golden Nugget at $2.7 million. Resorts, which began its online gambling in February, won just under $900,000. But it is expected to get a major boost by mid-2016 when its PokerStars affiliate begins Internet gambling operations in New Jersey.

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