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Atlantic City casino earnings down 35 percent

Atlantic City casino earnings fell 35 percent in2013, despite boost from Internet revenues

By Wayne Parry, Associated Press

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Not even a boost from Internet gambling money and the comparison with an extremely slow period after Superstorm Sandy could prevent Atlantic City’s casinos from seeing a big decline in their earnings in 2013.

The casinos saw their gross operating profits decline by nearly 35 percent last year.

The 12 casinos that operated in 2013 — the Atlantic Club shut down in January of 2014 — posted a collective gross operating profit of $235 million, down from $360 million in 2012.

For the fourth quarter of 2013, the casinos reduced their gross operating losses by more than 73 percent, to a loss of $5.7 million in the last three months of the year. That was compared with a loss of $21.6 million in the same period of 2012, when New Jersey was still reeling from the effects of Superstorm Sandy.

Gross operating profit includes earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and other charges, and is a widely accepted measure of profitability in the casino industry.

Atlantic City’s casinos have seen the revenue and profits fall since shortly after the first Pennsylvania casino opened in late 2006. Continuing saturation of the casino market in the northeastern U.S. has cost New Jersey billions in lost revenue and thousands of lost jobs.

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