Atlantic City was not spared by the devastating effect that the Covid-19 pandemic had on businesses around the world. Casinos in the area had to go into shutdown mode for some time before they returned to operating at limited capacity.
Therefore, many decreases were inevitable, but things are looking good so far, according to the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.
Namely, the DGE released figures on Friday regarding the nine casinos located in Atlantic City. According to the report, the brick-and-mortar casinos in the area managed to report a total revenue of $186.1 million in October. Compared to October 2019, there’s an 8% year-on-year decline. Moreover, casinos earned $3.9 million less compared to September 2020.
The main reason why this decline was reported was the slots. The revenue decreased by 10% year-on-year for one-armed bandits, which managed to earn a total of $132.85 million. Table games also reported a decline of 2.8%, earning a total of $53.25 million.
For year-to-date, the revenue of slots decreased by 45% to a total of $887.9 million. Moreover, tables decreased 48.2%, earning $331 million. In other words, the overall year-to-date decline compared to last year is about 46%, as casinos earned a total of $1.21 billion.
Online Casinos Save the Day
The figures for October 2020 aren’t that bad if you take into account that online casinos in the area managed to generate a total of $118 million. This includes both casino gambling and sports betting on the web.
If we add this contribution to the equation, we’ll see that the actual number for October is up by 14.2% to $304.1 million. However, year-to-date numbers are still down by 22.7%, with total earnings of $2.11 billion.
However, the future (at least for several upcoming months) doesn’t look so bright for Atlantic City. Gov. Phil Murphy issued an order last Monday, prohibiting all bars and restaurants to offer indoor dining after 10 pm.
According to Murphy, that was a very necessary step in order to avoid the second lockdown. Like many other countries worldwide, New Jersey wasn’t spared from the autumn surge in Covid-19 cases.
The new prohibition will not only affect venues that are part of casinos in New Jersey. Namely, it will also affect alcohol service on the gaming floor, which will not be available between 10 pm and 5 am. This decision aims to protect not only guests but also waiters on the gaming floor.
Almost 80 casino workers tested positive in October alone, which is almost a third of the total number of infected employees since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Casino Association of New Jersey supported Gov. Phil Murphy’s announcement of the new rules. Nevertheless, the new rules are definitely going to affect revenue in casinos that are part of Atlantic City.
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