Atlantic City casinos post disappointing numbers in October

October’s spooky season led to a chilling month for Atlantic City casinos as gross gaming revenue fell 8.5 percent in the month.

The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement issued their October report on gambling revenues earlier this week. The nine casinos listed in the report combined for a total of $208.7 million in revenue in October. That was down nearly 19.4 million from revenue reported in October, 2023.

The drop in revenue in October continued a downward trend for the year for Atlantic City casinos. So far through 10 months the casinos have reported $2.36 billion in revenue. That was down $38.7 million, or 1.6 percent when compared to revenues through October in 2023.

Of the nine casinos included in the October report only three reported revenues higher than they reported in October 2019, prior to the pandemic. Those three were the Borgata Casino, Hard Rock, and Ocean Casino.

However, their revenue from October 2024 was still lower than in October 23 with Boragata down six percent, Hard Rock down one percent, and Ocean down a staggering 24 percent.

While brick-and-mortar gaming continued to take a hit in October, iGaming continued to flourish in New Jersey. Gross gaming revenue from online slots, tables games, and poker was $213.6 million in October. That was a 28.1 percent increase from October 2023.

The $213.6 million was a record high for the New Jersey iGaming market, surpassing the $208.1 million reported a month earlier, the first month online gaming revenues surpassed $200 million.

Despite October being a banner month for sports, sports betting was also down in New Jersey in October. New Jersey sportsbooks took in $1.13 billion in bets which was down 13.3 percent from October 2023, and revenue from sports betting came in at $77.4 million, down 16 percent from the previous year.