Atlantic City casino revenue falls 7.1 percent in April

ATLANTIC CITY — Revenue at Atlantic City’s casinos fell by 7.1 percent in April, continuing a 4½-year slump for the nation’s second-largest gambling market.

Figures released Tuesday show the city’s 11 casinos took in $289.4 million last month. Slot machine revenue fell 3.4 percent, to $208.6 million, while table game revenue decreased by 15.4 percent, to $80.9 million.

Atlantic City has been steadily losing business to Pennsylvania’s 10 casinos, as well as gambling halls in New York, Delaware and Connecticut.

On Monday, the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa laid off 50 workers, citing competition and the poor economy, and Trump Entertainment Resorts said it let go an undisclosed number of workers at its three casinos.

Only two of the 11 casinos posted revenue increases. Caesars Atlantic City was up 5.6 percent to $38.3 million, and Resorts Casino Hotel was up 4.3 percent to $14.5 million.

Resorts co-owner Dennis Gomes said the casino’s bottom line would have been even better had it not been for an extremely lucky patron.

“We got killed by this one guy, close to a million bucks in one day,” he said.

The casino’s hotel revenue was up by more than 40 percent last month, and its overall revenues increased by 14 percent from March to April, compared to 4 percent over the same period last year.

For Atlantic City as a whole, Gomes feels the market is close to reaching a new equilibrium. Table games debuted in Pennsylvania’s casinos last July, and once the year-to-year comparisons reach that point, the numbers for Atlantic City should be better, he said.

The biggest decline was at the Tropicana Casino and Resort, which earlier this week fired its president, Mark Giannantonio. The casino’s April revenues fell by 19.8 percent to $19.2 million. Close on its heels was Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, which saw a 19.3 percent decline to $13.2 million.

The Borgata was down an uncharacteristic 11.3 percent, even though the $49.8 million it won in April was still tops in the city. A Goldman Sachs research report issued Tuesday expressed concern about the casino’s parent company, Boyd Gaming.

“We continue to believe that Boyd’s Atlantic City results will be negatively impacted by new competition opening up in the market,” the firm wrote. The Revel, due to open next summer, will replace the Borgata as Atlantic City’s newest casino resort.

Other declines included Trump Marina Hotel Casino, which is to be sold in two weeks to the Texas-based owners of the Las Vegas Golden Nugget (down 7.9 percent to $10.9 million); Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City (down 7.6 percent to $38.3 million; the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort (down 7.2 percent to $31.9 million); the Showboat Casino Hotel (down 6.7 percent to $23.2 million); Bally’s Atlantic City (down 5.1 percent to $35.3 million); and the Atlantic City Hilton Casino Resort, down 1 percent to $14.1 million.

The casinos paid $19.9 million in taxes, plus $3.6 million in state-mandated economic reinvestment funds.

For the first four months of this year, Atlantic City’s casinos have won $1.1 billion, down 7.2 percent from the same period a year ago.