Atlantic City casinos shovelling snow, not money, in January

Atlantic City casinos started 2018 off on the wrong foot, as no one wanted to brave the snow to play slots or table games in January.

On Wednesday, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) reported that Atlantic City’s seven casino operators generated combined brick-and-mortar gaming revenue of $162.3m in January, down 12.6% from January 2017’s total.

The poor showing would have been much worse were it not for the operators’ online gambling sites, which brought in a record $22m in January, which nudged up the market’s overall gaming revenue year-on-year decline to a slightly less dire 9.9%.

The decline wasn’t the fault of any one vertical, as slots revenue fell 11.4% to $109.5m while table games were down 15.1% to $52.8m. The downturn also wasn’t simply the case of gamblers playing lucky, as all seven operators reported significant declines in both slots handle and table drop.