Still Go to A.C. to Gamble? [POLL]

The numbers don’t look good as far as casino revenue goes for the casinos in Atlantic City. According to recent reports, revenues fell below $3B for 1st time in 22 years.

Not a good sign for a resort that’s supposed to be part of a 5 year plan to revive it.

Begs the question – do you still go to Atlantic City to gamble, and if not, where then are you going, and why?

I don’t think it takes too much of a genius to figure that out.

Competition from out of state venues, Atlantic City’s crime ridden image, and the introduction of on-line gambling are all contributing to the slow erosion of what was once the East Coast’s premiere gambling mecca.

According to this:

Atlantic City’s casino revenue fell below $3 billion last year for the first time in 22 years, as increasing competition in the northeastern U.S. continued to shrink the market.

Figures released Tuesday by the state Division of Gaming Enforcement showed the city’s casinos won $2.86 billion in 2013, down from just over $3 billion in 2012.

The figures also showed the state’s fledgling Internet gambling industry being dominated by two main players: the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, and Caesars Interactive, which together won $6.1 million of the $8.4 million that was taken in by New Jersey Internet gambling sites over the final five weeks of 2013.

The Borgata, with its party poker online brand, took in more than $3.7 million in online gambling revenue since Internet betting began in New Jersey on Nov. 21.

Caesars Interactive, which runs sites including the WSOP and 888 brands, won nearly $2.4 million online from late November through the end of the year.

Other competitors lagged badly in the online market. The Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort and its ucasino brand, won $883,000. The Tropicana Casino and Resort won $748,000; Trump Plaza Hotel Casino and its betfair online brand won $427,000, and the Golden Nugget, whose launch was delayed for weeks by technical problems, won $179,000.

Revel Casino Hotel posted the biggest annual revenue gain, at nearly 27 percent to $155 million, but that was mainly because it did so poorly a year earlier.
Trump Plaza had the biggest decline, down nearly 28 percent, to just $74 million for the year.

Add to that the recent closure of what was the former Atlantic City Hilton, the Atlantic Club, displacing thousands of casino workers – and it all adds up to what could best be described as a slow cancer killing off A.C.’s gaming industry.

Do you still go to Atlantic City to gamble?