ATLANTIC CITY CASINOS HAD A JANUARY WIN OF $211.6B, UP 15% OVER 2022
By Skip Charles in Vegas
Atlantic City’s casinos won $211.6 million from in-person gamblers in January, up 15.3% from a year ago.
But only three of the nine casinos won more that way last month than they did in January 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic erupted.
When revenue from internet gambling and sports betting is included, the casinos, horse tracks that take sports bets, and the online partners of both those types of businesses won $436.8 million, up 14.5% from a year ago.
January is usually the weakest month for the city’s casinos, and this year’s relatively strong performance could augur well for a good full year in 2023, said Jane Bokunewicz, faculty director of the Lloyd Levenson Institute at Stockton University, which studies the Atlantic City gambling market.
“Even considering only brick-and-mortar (revenue), Atlantic City’s casino operators have reason to be hopeful,” she said.
In-person gambling revenue, which the casinos consider their core business and most important economic indicator, surpassed the level of January 2020 just before the virus began spreading widely ($192.1 million). It approached January monthly revenues not seen since 2012 ($245.9 million) and 2011 ($255.4 million), when there were more Atlantic City casinos in operation, and no sports wagering or online gambling, Bokunewicz said.
