Surviving Atlantic City casinos’ May revenue up 5.3 percent

ALANTIC CITY (AP) — From the ashes of its ruinous 2014, when a third of Atlantic City's casinos went belly-up, some green shoots of growth are emerging in the oceanside town.

From the ashes of its ruinous 2014, when a third of Atlantic City's casinos went belly-up, some green shoots of growth are emerging in the oceanside town.

Atlantic City's eight casinos saw their revenue increase by 5.3 percent in May compared with a year ago.

The casinos won $208.6 million from gamblers last month; more than $156.9 million came from slot machines and $51.6 million from table games.

The numbers were aided by $12.5 million in Internet gambling winnings, an increase of more than 19 percent over May 2014.

"That's a strong showing for what our detractors say is a weak market," said Matt Levinson, chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission. "Whether you look at the results for the one month or for the first five months of this year, total gaming revenue is up for the current operators. The size of the market may be smaller, but the health ?of the current operators is getting stronger."

But when the three casinos that were operating in May 2014 but have since closed are included in the calculations, Atlantic City's May 2015 revenue was down 9 percent from a year ago.

The closing last year of the Atlantic Club, Showboat, Revel and Trump Plaza reduced capacity in the Atlantic City market and have helped the surviving casinos do better with less competition.

Five of the currently operating casinos saw increases last month, led by Caesars, which experienced a particularly unlucky month at table games a year ago, which helped account for its big improvement this May.

Caesars was up 51 percent to $27.7 million; the Golden Nugget was up more than 33 percent to $22.5 million; Resorts was up 19.6 percent to $14.4 million, Harrah's was up 8.2 percent to $33.3 million, and the Tropicana was up 2.3 percent to $27.6 million.

The largest decrease was at the Trump Taj Mahal, which is being acquired from bankruptcy by billionaire investor Carl Icahn. It was down 14.5 percent to $18.4 million. Bally's was down more than 12 percent to $18.1 million, and the Borgata was down 4.7 percent to $56.1 million, which still was by far the highest revenue figure in the city.

Caesars Interactive NJ, the online gambling arm of the Caesars Entertainment casinos in New Jersey, saw its revenue decrease by 6 percent to $2.6 million.

For the first five months of this year, the casinos have taken in just under $1 billion, an improvement of nearly 4 percent over the same time period last year. But when the now-closed casinos are included, that figure represents a 10.5 percent decrease.

(Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed)