CORRECT:Atlantic City's May Casino Revenue Down 15.4% On Year
12 June 2009 - 3:58AM
Dow Jones News
Atlantic City's painful losing streak continues as its casinos
reported revenue of $351.3 million in May, a 15.4% drop compared
with the same period last year, said the New Jersey Casino Control
Commission on Wednesday.
The numbers extend a downward trend for the gambling haven's 11
casinos, which have struggled to remain competitive amid a
recession and mass defection of gamblers to newer slot parlors in
Pennsylvania and New York. Indeed, a new casino in Bethlehem, Pa.,
by gaming giant Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS) is poised to be a major
threat to the island town given that it is less than 100 miles away
from New York City.
"Certainly one of the reasons why revenue is down in Atlantic
City is the impact of new competition ... the opening of a new
facility in Bethlehem will certainly contribute to that," said
Daniel Heneghan, a spokesman for the regulator. He said the May
numbers were in line with what the casinos reported during the
first four months of the year. Atlantic City industry suffered a
24.6% drop in gross operating profits in 2008.
Borgata Hotel and Casino, jointly owned by Boyd Gaming Corp.
(BYD) and MGM Mirage (MGM), continued to have the smallest declines
as its casino revenue decreased 3% to $62 million in May compared
with the same period last year. The biggest decliner last month was
the Atlantic City Hilton, which saw casino revenue drop 29.5% to
$17 million.
-By A.D. Pruitt, Dow Jones Newswires, 201-938-2269,
angela.pruitt@dowjones.com