Atlantic City Casinos Experience Haunting October as Gaming Win Falls 8.5%

Atlantic City casinos continued to see the market thin last month as in-person gross gaming revenue (GGR) fell 8.5% despite an unusually warm and dry October.

October 2024 was ghostly for the nine Atlantic City casinos as in-person gaming revenue tumbled 8.5% to $208.7 million. In-person gaming win is down through 10 months of the year. (Image: Visit Atlantic City)

The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) reports that only three of the nine casinos Borgata, Hard Rock, and Ocean won more money from in-person gamblers last month than they did in prepandemic October 2019. However, even those three casinos saw retail GGR decline year over year, as Borgata s $53.4 million represented a 6% decline, Hard Rock s $40.8 million was down 1%, and Ocean s $32.9 million represented a 24% drop from October 2023.

Just two casinos Caesars and Tropicana saw year-over-year in-person GGR improvements. Caesars $15 million was a 4.1% gain and Tropicana s $17.6 million was 7.4% higher than a year ago.

Bally s reported GGR of $11.5 million, down 7.8% year over year, Golden Nugget won $9.7 million, a 20.6% decline, Harrah s won $15.8 million, down 11.5%, and Resorts GGR of $12 million represented a 9.2% drop.

Combined, brick-and-mortar casino revenue last month totaled $208.7 million. That s almost $19.4 million less than what the nine properties won in October 2023.

Scary October

October marked the largest year-over-year GGR decline for in-person play this year. The month down for the year as a whole.

Through 10 months, brick-and-mortar casino revenue reached $2.36 billion. That s 1.6% lower or more than $38.7 million less than the same 10 months in 2023.

Despite a historically dry and very mild October, brick-and-mortar gaming operators in Atlantic City did not see strong gains over 2023, instead declining by 8.5% year over year, said Jane Bokunewicz, director of Stockton University s Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality, and Tourism.

James Plousis, who chairs the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, which oversees the DGE, said that while in-person play remains a challenge for the nine casinos, last month marked the second-best October since 2013, aside from 2023.

for the nine casinos through the first half of the year were down almost 5% from 2023 to $333.7 million. The trimmer profit margins came despite industrywide revenue, which, along with gaming, includes income from hotel, food and beverage, entertainment, and retail leases, climbing 1.5% to $1.6 billion.

Profit reports for the third quarter are expected later this month. October kicks off the fourth quarter, and the casino revenue numbers suggest it wasn t a strong start.

Record iGaming GGR Again 

The other side of the October gaming picture was , which continued to grow. GGR from online slots, table games, and poker rake totaled $213.6 million, a 28.1% surge from October 2023.

The $213.6 million won online is a new high for the New Jersey online gambling market. The previous record didn t last long, as it was only set in September when iGaming GGR for the first time.

Sports betting revenue tumbled 16% to $77.4 million. Oddsmakers took over $1.13 billion in bets, down 13.3% from a year ago.

With iGaming and sports betting included in the Atlantic City casino revenue, October 2024 GGR climbed 2.6% to $499.8 million. But as the casinos , much of their iGaming and sports betting win is shared with their third-party partners like DraftKings and FanDuel.