A dealer conducts a card game at the Hard Rock casino in Atlantic City, N.J., on Oct. 3, 2024, a month in which internet gambling set a new revenue record in New Jersey at $213 million.
WAYNE PARRY Associated Press
ATLANTIC CITY -- The city's casinos saw their operating profits decline by nearly 14% in the third quarter of this year, figures released Friday by New Jersey gambling regulators show.
The state Division of Gaming Enforcement issued statistics showing the nine casinos had a collective gross operating profit of $236.5 million in the third quarter. That was down 13.8% from the third quarter of 2023.
It was the latest indication of how the casinos continue to struggle with economic conditions and a shift in consumer preferences after the COVID-19 pandemic. More businesses have migrated to online gambling, where the money won from bettors must be shared with outside parties and is not solely for the casinos to keep.
Although all nine casinos were profitable in the third quarter, only two -- Caesars Atlantic City and Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City -- saw their operating profits increase compared to a year earlier.
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"Consumer demand may have been an issue for Atlantic City's casino operators in summer 2024," said Jane Bokunewicz, director of the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism at Stockton University, which studies the Atlantic City gambling industry.
She noted the average hotel room rate declined by $17 in the third quarter, indicating that casino operators may have had to lower their rates to attract customers. The absence of large-scale tourism events like the annual air show and large beach concerts this summer also likely contributed to the downturn, she said.
Revenue from things other than gambling also underperformed in the third quarter at $511.6 million, down 5% from a year earlier. These revenues are traditionally strongest during the summer months.
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James Plousis, chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, said "pressure from continuing high costs can be seen in lower profits compared to the same period last year."
Gross operating profit reflects earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and other expenses, and is a widely accepted measure of profitability in the Atlantic City gambling industry.
Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa had the highest operating profit at $60 million, down nearly 18% from a year earlier; Hard Rock earned $45.4 million, up 2.4%; Ocean Casino Resort earned $36.5 million, down 15.3%; Tropicana Atlantic City earned $30.5 million, down nearly 17%; Caesars earned nearly $23.5 million, up 11.2%; Harrah's Resort Atlantic City earned $22.6 million, down nearly 25%; Bally's Atlantic City earned $6.5 million, down nearly 11%; Golden Nugget Atlantic City earned $6.2 million, down nearly 44%; and Resorts Casino Hotel earned $4.9 million, down 32.6%.
Among internet-only entities, Caesars Interactive NJ earned $4.8 million, down 7.8%, and Resorts Digital, the former online arm of Resorts casino, earned $1.5 million, down 4.8%.
For the first nine months of this year, the casinos have posted a collective gross operating profit of $547 million, down 9.2% from the same period last year.
Ocean had the highest average nightly hotel room rate in the third quarter at $335.63; Golden Nugget had the lowest at $124.70. The average among the nine casinos was $201.08.
Hard Rock had the highest average occupancy rate at 95.1%, while Golden Nugget had the lowest at 66.4%.
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