Atlantic City observations (final numbers for 2009)
March 7th, 2010 at 1:50:49 AM
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The final numbers for CY2009 are in for Atlantic City. Drop for individual casinos and for corporations is shown from 2006 to 2009. The city was growing weak in 2007 because of competition even before recession began.
Note that Harrah's and Borgata dropped much less the rest of the casinos. These two properties are not really seaside resorts, as they are not on the boardwalk, and are the easiest to drive to or take a bus. They are also have new towers that opened up in the last four years.
Total gaming revenue went from $5.2 billion in 2006 to $4.0 billion in 2009.
It seems to indicate the if NJ permitted a casino to be built at a transit hub, revenue would go back up.
Note that Harrah's and Borgata dropped much less the rest of the casinos. These two properties are not really seaside resorts, as they are not on the boardwalk, and are the easiest to drive to or take a bus. They are also have new towers that opened up in the last four years.
Total gaming revenue went from $5.2 billion in 2006 to $4.0 billion in 2009.
It seems to indicate the if NJ permitted a casino to be built at a transit hub, revenue would go back up.
| Owner | Rooms | Casino | Drop | Drop |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 17,107 | 11 | -24.5% | -24.5% |
| HarrahsEntertainment | 1,752 | BallyAC | -30.0% | -19.9% |
| 1,141 | Caesars | -17.1% | ||
| 2,590 | Harrah | -4.0% | ||
| 1,331 | Showboat | -26.3% | ||
| Icahn | 2,129 | Tropicana | -31.7% | -31.7% |
| Trump(Icahnbiddingforcontrol) | 2,010 | TrumpTajMahal | -15.7% | -25.4% |
| 906 | TrumpPlaza | -32.8% | ||
| 728 | TrumpMarina | -36.8% | ||
| MGM/Boyd | 2,769 | Borgata | -5.9% | -5.9% |
| Colony Capital | 809 | ACHilton | -41.8% | -37.4% |
| 942 | Resorts | -32.2% |
March 7th, 2010 at 5:09:20 AM
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I don't know if the transit situation is as big a factor as you think it is.
It is the same distance to drive to, say, Caesars; the A.C. Expwy. lets you out right at the entrance to their parking garage. Buses don't, as a rule, go to Borgata, because the casino doesn't need bus traffic. They have always been top dog in A.C., because they are the nicest property. Harrah's also has a lot of amenities, and has been upgraded a lot. You can't say that for other properties. like Ballys, the Trumps, etc.
I think the new hotel towers had _a lot_ to do with it. Otherwise they would be hurting just like everyone else. They are giving away rooms like candy in the town. Borgata had to close their new tower during the week in the winter.
It is the same distance to drive to, say, Caesars; the A.C. Expwy. lets you out right at the entrance to their parking garage. Buses don't, as a rule, go to Borgata, because the casino doesn't need bus traffic. They have always been top dog in A.C., because they are the nicest property. Harrah's also has a lot of amenities, and has been upgraded a lot. You can't say that for other properties. like Ballys, the Trumps, etc.
I think the new hotel towers had _a lot_ to do with it. Otherwise they would be hurting just like everyone else. They are giving away rooms like candy in the town. Borgata had to close their new tower during the week in the winter.
"Dice, verily, are armed with goads and driving-hooks, deceiving and tormenting, causing grievous woe." -Rig Veda 10.34.4
March 7th, 2010 at 5:18:35 AM
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I have been following the A.C. financial reports month-to-month. Resorts, Hilton, and Trump Marina have been in steady decline. It is inevitable that one, or all of them, will go out of business if the economy doesn't majorly improve. Resorts is already foreclosed upon and is owned by their lenders. (Yep, it's a bank-owned casino. Kind of ironic after what happened the last few years in finance, eh?) The other two Trumps took a _major_ skydive in revenue after the most recent bankruptcy news came out. Up until that point Taj Mahal had been actually gaining ground with their new hotel tower, and Trump Plaza had been holding steady. Now Trump Plaza is one of the worst-declining properties. Mr. Icahn, or whoever gains control of these, will have some major finger-in-the-dike work to do.
"Dice, verily, are armed with goads and driving-hooks, deceiving and tormenting, causing grievous woe." -Rig Veda 10.34.4
March 7th, 2010 at 6:25:54 AM
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What does a transit hub have to do with anything?Quote: pacomartinIt seems to indicate the if NJ permitted a casino to be built at a transit hub, revenue would go back up.
Borgata and Harrahs (and Trump Marina) are away from the other casinos in the marina area of AC.
Isolated.
It is difficult to get to them from the boardwalk without a car or cab. Even Jitney cabs are spotty. And it's not too easy to get from one to another within the marina.
Boardwalk casinos have the luxury, and pitfall, of being easy to get from one to another.
Of course, if you're on the boardwalk, its easy to spend some time at a non-casino diversion.
Maybe THAT'S what is helping Harrah's and Borgata. No diversions helps keep gamblers on site once they arrive. The new towers gets them there in the first place.
Trump Taj also has a new tower. But it suffers the same problems as the other boardwalk casinos. Plus the new tower at Taj has an access walkway that is badly designed.
I invented a few casino games. Info:
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Superstitions are silly, childish, irrational rituals, born out of fear of the unknown. But how much does it cost to knock on wood? 😁
March 7th, 2010 at 8:38:37 AM
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I was thinking of a Transit Hub outside of Atlantic City, like Metropark (20 miles outside of Manhattan), where ten million people can get there by commuter train. Not a resort per se, but just someplace where people can gamble for the day. The population center of NJ is at exit #9 of the NJ Turnpike, which is about 12 miles from Metropark. But Metropark has the best rail connections.
COMPETITION
It is only 70-85 minutes by train from Penn Station in Manhattan to 30th station in Philadelphia. From there it is 3-4 miles to either of the new casinos (Sugarland or the Wynn casino) that are being built along the river.
From NYC to Sands Casino in Bethlehem is about 83 miles so it is at least an hour closer to Manhattan than Atlantic City.
The northern NJ suburbs are even closer. It is 73 miles from the population center of NJ to Sands Bethlehem, and it is 109 miles to Atlantic city.
Even today it is 50-60 minutes from New York City to Trenton by Amtrak. From there it is 12 miles to PARX which is fairly cheap if 3 friends split a cab.
NJ could cut off all of this traffic by placing a casino in a centrally located transit hub. It may not want to compete for the NJ suburbs of Philadelphia, further reducing traffic to Atlantic city, but it is crazy for them to lose most of their own citizens, and all the milliions.
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Icahn is only really interested in the Taj Mahal, he might just sell the TRUMP MARINA and TRUMP PLAZA.
Probably the other casinos like AC Hilton will be reduced to slot clubs before very long.
COMPETITION
It is only 70-85 minutes by train from Penn Station in Manhattan to 30th station in Philadelphia. From there it is 3-4 miles to either of the new casinos (Sugarland or the Wynn casino) that are being built along the river.
From NYC to Sands Casino in Bethlehem is about 83 miles so it is at least an hour closer to Manhattan than Atlantic City.
The northern NJ suburbs are even closer. It is 73 miles from the population center of NJ to Sands Bethlehem, and it is 109 miles to Atlantic city.
Even today it is 50-60 minutes from New York City to Trenton by Amtrak. From there it is 12 miles to PARX which is fairly cheap if 3 friends split a cab.
NJ could cut off all of this traffic by placing a casino in a centrally located transit hub. It may not want to compete for the NJ suburbs of Philadelphia, further reducing traffic to Atlantic city, but it is crazy for them to lose most of their own citizens, and all the milliions.
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Icahn is only really interested in the Taj Mahal, he might just sell the TRUMP MARINA and TRUMP PLAZA.
Probably the other casinos like AC Hilton will be reduced to slot clubs before very long.
March 7th, 2010 at 8:54:38 AM
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I thought you meant that it would somehow help the AC casinos. Sure, a casino at Metropark would help NJ, but would further hurt AC. AC Started to feel the hurt a little when Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun opened in CT. They hurt more when Empire City opened a couple years ago (a Racino at Yonkers Racetrack, a few miles north of NYC). PA is further hurting AC.
A casino in NJ outside of AC? It'll never happpen.
AC has a stranglehold on NJ. I play poker in a bar league. Until about a year ago, one of the venues was the Meadowlands Racetrack. The Meadowlands loved it because it drew over 100 poker players, most of whom are not horse bettors, but threw a few bucks at the horses while they were there. Not to mention a few bucks at the bar and restaurants.
The track loved it so much, they gave the poker players free admission and free racing programs.
AC caught wind of the poker game. One letter from Gaming shut the poker game down.
But on the subject of a transit hub, there is train service from Penn Station in NYC, to AC, with one stop in Newark. ACES - Atlantic City Express Service. "Express" is something of a misnomer. It takes about the same time as driving (unless there's traffic). It goes to the Convention Center, which is a short walk to the closest casino.
A casino in NJ outside of AC? It'll never happpen.
AC has a stranglehold on NJ. I play poker in a bar league. Until about a year ago, one of the venues was the Meadowlands Racetrack. The Meadowlands loved it because it drew over 100 poker players, most of whom are not horse bettors, but threw a few bucks at the horses while they were there. Not to mention a few bucks at the bar and restaurants.
The track loved it so much, they gave the poker players free admission and free racing programs.
AC caught wind of the poker game. One letter from Gaming shut the poker game down.
But on the subject of a transit hub, there is train service from Penn Station in NYC, to AC, with one stop in Newark. ACES - Atlantic City Express Service. "Express" is something of a misnomer. It takes about the same time as driving (unless there's traffic). It goes to the Convention Center, which is a short walk to the closest casino.
I invented a few casino games. Info:
http://www.DaveMillerGaming.com/ 覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧覧
Superstitions are silly, childish, irrational rituals, born out of fear of the unknown. But how much does it cost to knock on wood? 😁
March 7th, 2010 at 9:18:43 AM
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Quote: DJTeddyBearBut on the subject of a transit hub, there is train service from Penn Station in NYC, to AC, with one stop in Newark. ACES - Atlantic City Express Service. "Express" is something of a misnomer. It takes about the same time as driving (unless there's traffic). It goes to the Convention Center, which is a short walk to the closest casino.
The ACES train is 2:38 to 2:53 one way. That is just too slow and it makes for a long day. It is less than an hour by train from Penn Station to Trenton, and you need to transit the last 12 miles to PARX casino. I don't know if there is a bus.
Another way to look at it is PARX is 42 miles from the population center of NJ, while Atlantic City is over 100 miles.
New Jersey is 8.7 million people, while NYC is 8.36 million people. But only 21% of New Jersey citizens live in the southern half of the state, and most of these people will shortly only be a few miles from a casino in Philadelphia. The overwhelming majority of citizens of NJ are now closer to casinos in Pennsylvania. PA has only established 5 casinos that are more than 23 miles from the NJ border.
The Metropark is very close to the population center of northern NJ, and has the most transit connections via Amtrak and NJ transit (rail and bus) so it is very convenient to people from Manhattan. Of course it will put some of the smaller casinos out of business in Atlantic City, but those customers will be lost anyway. Visitation numbers are back to 1986-1987 numbers anyway.
Analysts ready to write obits for Atlantic City's weaker casinos
By DONALD WITTKOWSKI Staff Writer
ATLANTIC CITY 窶 Casinos from Connecticut to Nevada saw revenues fall in 2009, but that窶冱 small consolation to the hard-hit gambling halls here. A casino-by-casino review of results last year finds several struggling to survive.
Gaming analysts are getting ready to write obituaries for Atlantic City窶冱 weaker casinos.
Their pessimism centers on newly released revenue figures for 2009. Overall, revenue from slot machines and table games sank 13.2 percent to $3.9 billion, the lowest level since 1997.
窶廬t was a very difficult year for the industry,窶 said Israel Posner, executive director of the Institute for Gaming Management at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.
Joel H. Simkins, of Macquarie Securities, claims Atlantic City is 窶徘ermanently disfigured.窶 He warned of multiple casino closings, but declined to name which properties he believes are in peril.
The financially shaky Atlantic City Hilton Casino Resort, Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino and Trump Marina Hotel Casino had a particularly bad year. Gaming revenue fell more than 20 percent at each of those properties.
Robert A. LaFleur, of Susquehanna Financial Group, predicts Atlantic City窶冱 revenue will drop even more this year because of the introduction of table games at the rival Pennsylvania casinos.
窶弋he situation will go from bad to worse when Pennsylvania rolls out table games,窶 Lafleur wrote in a note to investors.
Atlantic City generated $1.2 billion from table games in 2009, representing about 30 percent of total revenue. Pennsylvania casino operators will fight for that lucrative market when they introduce their games in about six to nine months, once state gaming officials complete the regulations.
While table games should give Pennsylvania a short-term boost, analyst Keith Foley of Moody窶冱 Investors Service believes the Keystone State casinos will ultimately encounter the same difficulty as their counterparts in Atlantic City 窶 too much competition.
窶廝eyond the near-term impact of the approval of table games in Pennsylvania, the move is a symptom of the bigger problem plaguing the gaming business, namely that there are more states and more facilities scrapping over an ultimately finite 窶 and possibly permanently smaller 窶 pie,窶 Foley concluded in a new research report.
With the poor economy and extra competition cutting into Atlantic City窶冱 casino business, revenue has slipped three years in a row. Compared with the record-high of $5.2 billion in 2006, revenue is down 25 percent industrywide. Simple arithmetic shows that the industry has lost $1.3 billion in revenue over the past three years.
