With the land-based Atlantic City casinos closed for half of March, all of them took a major revenue hit for the month. The coronavirus issue means the doors will remain shut for the entirety of April, which will result in zero revenue for New Jersey’s brick-and mortar gaming venues.
Here are the March revenue numbers for the Atlantic City land-based casinos and the year-on-year change from March 2019:
• Borgata – $19.3 million, down 67.5%
• Harrah’s – $9.8 million, down 63.1%
• Bally’s – $5.5 million, down 62.7%
• Tropicana – $10.2 million, down 62.5%
• Resorts – $5.7 million, down 61.8%
• Golden Nugget – $7 million
• Hard Rock – $10.2 million, down 58.5%
• Caesars – $9.5 million, down 58.5%
• Ocean Casino Resort – $8.2 million, down 45.6%
The Meadowlands Racetrack and Monmouth Park racinos also took a hit to the chin in March. Meadowlands had a revenue of $5.9 million from $17.6 million in March 2019 and Monmouth Park had revenue of $800,000 down from $2.7 million.
The New Jersey gaming industry did get a shot in the arm from online casino gambling, but not a big one. The increased revenue streams from March 2019 to March 2020 ranged from 32.4% at Ocean Casino Resort to a whopping 124.6% at Borgata. However, the total figure at Borgata ended up being less than $7 million, while they dropped $40 million in retail revenue from March 2019. The Golden Nugget continues to lead the New Jersey online casino industry with a 20.2% revenue increase over March 2019.
The overall gaming revenue for March saw a decrease of 44.4% from March of last year. However, the year-to-date figures are solid due to strong returns in January and February. Total New Jersey gaming revenue was down 1.8% ($751.2 million) for the first quarter of this year.
New Jersey has received $71.7 million in taxes from gambling so far in 2020, compared to $66.1 million for the first quarter of last year. The gaming industry in the state was doing well and was expected to pass last year’s tax totals before the COVID-19 outbreak.
The sports handle in the Garden State last month was $181.9 million, compared to $494.8 million in February and $540.1 million in January.