Borgata Boosts September AC Take

Atlantic City saw its share of revenue explode during September as the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa’s performance continued to buoy the entire market. Overall, the city by the shore saw gross gaming revenues (GGR) grows 9.2 percent in September to $468.8 million.

At the tables, year over year revenues bounced up 11.5 percent on a 5.9 percent increase in table drop while slot revenues increased 8.2 percent during the same period. Slot play volume increased 6.8 percent.

The big winner was of course the Borgata, which opened a new $200 million expansion that added about 35,000 square feet of gaming on June 30. The most popular -- and hippest -- casino in the market saw revenues jump by an incredible 15.1 percent year over year compared to September 2005. In all, the addition added 500 slot machines, which helped overall slot take to rise 14 percent while dollars into gaming devices increased 16.9 percent. Forty three new gaming tables helped win increase by 14 percent while table hold increased 15.4 percent.

Harrah’s Entertainment, which owns five of the 12 casinos in the market, saw revenues increase 6.7 percent year over year in September. The biggest winner was the venerable Bally’s, where revenue jumped 10.2 percent last month, boosted by an 11.8 percent jump in slot revenue. Slot win grew as volumes increased 9.7 percent and hold rose to 9 percent from 8.8 percent. Harrah's AC also posted strong growth with revenues increasing 8.7 percent on 19.1 percent revenue growth at the tables and 7.6 percent growth at the slots.
Caesars revenues grew 6.7 percent (slots +4.5 percent, tables +10.9 percent). Showboat revenues fell -1.0 percent on a -2.5 percent decline in slot win (handle down 4.4 percent).

There was also an extra weekend day on the calendar in September 2006 compared to September 2005, which accounted for some of the revenue increase. This month there will be one less weekend day compared to October 2005. Atlantic City is busiest on weekends, selling out nearly all hotel rooms at premium rates. Table game minimums also increase wildly on the weekends.

According to the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, the Borgata has 10.9 percent of all table positions in the city, but brought in 14.2 percent of the revenue.  The most table positions in Atlantic city are at Bally’s with 6,556 positions,  or 13.9 percent. The casino was only able to take 12.9 percent of the total take. The flagging Sands, which will close and be imploded to make way for a new casino resort continued to see its market share sink. Though the casino had 5.3 percent of positions, its take was a paltry 3.3 percent.

The casinos all saw increases in take all summer as well. According to figures released by the Casino Control Commission, Atlantic City casinos reported $432.5 million in casino win in May, a 2.9 percent  increase over May 2005. This June, casinos reported $428.1 million in casino revenue, a 5.9 percent increase over June of last year. While July’s numbers were down from last year, the $480.5 million win still made it the third highest month of win in the history of Atlantic City, with last July being the highest. The casinos rebounded in August, reporting $494.4 million in casino win, a 4.5 percent increase over August 2005.

New developments such as the opening of The Pier at Caesars and Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa’s expansion have made Atlantic City a popular destination for gamblers and non-gamblers alike. Attractions like the Atlantic City Airshow drew an estimated 600,000 people to the Atlantic City beach and Boardwalk, doubling the attendance from years past.
 

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