By: Wayne Parry
Internet gambling and sports betting helped propel the Borgata in July to the best month an Atlantic City casino has ever had.
Figures released Tuesday by New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement show the Borgata, the city’s top-performing casino, won more than $124 million from in-person casino gamblers, internet wagering and sports betting. The online and sports betting money is split with partners, so the casino doesn’t keep all of it.
The Borgata, along with four other Atlantic City casinos, won less from in-person gamblers in July 2022 than it did in July 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic began.
Travis Lunn, the Borgata’s president, attributed the record-setting month to “incredibly strong numbers across the board including a record slots performance.”
“When you look at the health of Atlantic City as a whole, it shows people are visiting and enjoy the activities they love,” he said. “I believe it is a sign and recognition of the reinvestment our industry is placing into Atlantic City.”
The previous best month for an Atlantic City casino was also had by the Borgata in September 2021, when the casino and its partners won nearly $112 million, according to the state Division of Gaming Enforcement.
Because of differences in the way states report gambling revenue, it is difficult to compare the Borgata’s performance with casinos elsewhere in the U.S.
The American Gaming Association, the casino industry’s national trade group, does not track revenue on an individual property level. And Nevada, the nation’s casino capital, does not report revenue from individual casinos, aggregating the totals, which it releases.
Borgata’s July total was nearly twice the amount that any Pennsylvania casino won in a single month. That record, $65.5 million, was set in April 2022 by Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course in Grantville, Pennsylvania, said Doug Harbach, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. That figure also includes sports betting and internet gambling revenue.
Jane Bokunewicz, director of the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute at Stockton University, which studies the Atlantic City gambling industry, said the Borgata’s record-setting performance “is a positive indicator of the overall strength of the casino industry in Atlantic City.”
“That Borgata delivered this performance in a month in which the property’s brick and mortar gaming revenues did not surpass 2019 levels, underlines the importance of the new internet gaming and sports betting products in the property’s overall revenue stream,” she said. “The diversification of the gambling product in recent years has also contributed to the property’s ability to remain competitive in the local and regional market.”
Lunn said online betting “is and will continue to be an important aspect of our business.”
(AP)
