Hurricane Sandy ruined two consecutive months of revenue for Atlantic City casinos
Many feared the Hurricane Sandy would cause structural damage to the luxurious casinos on the boardwalk. Although they survived the storm in November pretty much untouched, the real effects are just now showing as revenue went down significantly over the last two months compared to the same period last year. The East Coast gaming hub, which is in competition with the popular Las Vegas gambling industry, has suffered even more if we consider that the recent figures from Nevada show a healthy increase in casino revenue from gambling games. Gambling in Europe has also gone up this year with UK and Germany being the top markets.
The new Atlantic City figures show that gaming revenue in November 2012 dropped 27.9% to 176.6 million from last year. Slots, which are the most popular games and make up for a large portion of casino revenue, went down to a little over $126 million, a decrease worth $47 million compared to November 2011. Table games revenue also went down more than $20 million from $71.9 to $50.4 million. Overall, gaming revenue from Atlantic City casinos has went down 7.9% this year, without including December, to reach $2.83 billion.
Hurricane Sandy forced the boardwalk casinos to shut down for six days and another storm followed which although didn’t shut them down, greatly reduced tourist traffic due to weather conditions. In the last three weeks of November when all the casinos were open, the revenue went down by 13%.
Amongst all of the casinos, the Atlantic Club had the worst performance, cashing in $8.4 million which is a decrease of around 10%. However, Bally recorded the biggest percentage lost, 46%, compared to last year while the Golden Nugget maintained an incredible revenue which went down just by 0.4%.
Atlantic Club and PokerStars
Since we mentioned that Atlantic Club had a bad couple of months, it is important to point out that the online poker giant, PokerStars, is looking to buy it from Colony Capital in order to get a head start on the new legislation which is expected to come through by the end of the year; this will allow licensed casinos to offer online poker within state limits.
PokerStars already has the support from the State Senator Ray Lesniak who welcomes the global company to Atlantic City. He also stated that these newly formed partnerships will make New Jersey the largest gaming hub and will contribute to a significant growth in the industry. There is a clear competition with Nevada, who now holds the monopoly for sports betting, since online gaming licenses have already been granted to large casino operators from Las Vegas.
Online Casinos In The United States
Although the federal regulations do not allow online gambling in the United States, players do not have to worry very much since it is very easy to find online casinos that cater to this large market. One of the best new casinos is Begado, who got launched in 2012 and came with a huge welcome bonus right off the bat. Within a few short months, the online casino attracted a large community of players from around the world and quickly became one of the most popular gambling sites to play at.
Playing on the internet has some unique advantages that make it a lot more convenient for gamblers. When Hurricane Sandy forced New Jersey casinos to close for a few days, players could have easily went online and got a very similar experience from the comfort of their own homes. Online casinos nowadays also offer large welcome bonuses which make it even easier to play since the initial deposit is tripled right from the start. There is always room at any of the games while playing online and the recent software makes everything look amazing.