Good news is not something that comes out of Atlantic City very often.
For decades, vultures have been hovering around the seaside resort picking off the bones of fiscal failure. But a flurry of positive earnings reports and some new casino owners suggest that the good old days may be returning to the Garden State’s gambling capitol. Much of that success is being attributed to online gambling.
Online gambling, long hailed as the savior of Atlantic City, has turned out to be exactly that. According to the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) February was a banner month for online gambling in the Garden State with $18.7 million in revenue.
While that represents a slight dip from January, it also represents a 27 percent leap over last February’s numbers.
The big winner in the Atlantic City online race was the Golden Nugget, which brought in $5.175 million in online gambling revenue last month. According to a report on CalvinAyre.com, that’s a single month record for the state. (The previous record month was December, 2016 when the Golden Nugget brought in $4.79 million.)
On the land, Atlantic City casinos were also hearing good news.
Late last month, the Hard Rock International, a Florida-based investment group, purchased the long-suffering Trump Taj Mahal from billionaire Trump crony Carl Icahn. The group plans on pouring hundreds of millions of dollars in an effort to rehab the property.
Another troubled AC property, the Atlantic Club Casino, was also sold but it will no longer be a casino. The property’s new owners plan on building a water park on the site. That’s great news for current AC casino owners in that it decreases competition and gives tourists a reason to visit the city that doesn’t involve gambling.
Will the Atlantic City Renaissance take root or is this a passing phenomenon? Only time will tell, but trends are definitely looking positive for Las Vegas by the Sea.