Atlantic City Casino Gambling Revenue Down In March

Atlantic City Casino Gambling Revenue Down In March

The Atlantic City casino industry simply cannot afford to have many more months like the past few. This week, more bad news was delivered when revenue figures for March revealed a 5.6% decrease from the same period in 2009.

Table games at the city's casinos took the biggest hit, dropping 6.8%, to $207.3 million. Slot revenue for AC casinos was down to $207.3 million, a drop of five percent. The total revenue for the casinos was $300.8 million.

Although the news brought declining revenue, it was not as bad as the past year. Over the past year, Atlantic City casinos have experienced double digits declines in revenue many times. The single digit decline represented hope at several casinos.

"I feel pretty darn good," said Don Marrandino, Eastern Division President of Harrah's Entertainment. "i think we're turning the corner here." That optimism could be found in several of the casinos, but some believe that AC still has a long way to go."

"The fact that their not dropping as much as in the past is a good thing, but it certainly does not mean that casinos in Atlantic City can exhale," said Gaming Analyst Steve Schwartz. "The competition in the Northeast is becoming fierce, and all states have their eyes on toppling the New jersey casino industry."

One of those states is Pennsylvania where casinos had higher slot revenue than AC casinos for the first time ever in December. Pennsylvania lawmakers also upped the ante earlier this year when they legalized table games for casinos in the state.