On September 10th, 2007, the casino resorts' supposed to be peak season for this year was not that good. The total take of the casinos was down by 5.9 percent compared with the same period last year.
The Casino Control Commission of New Jersey stated that a $465.2 million casino win at the eleven casinos of Atlantic City. Only three casino facilities, Caesars Casinos, Harrah's Marina and Trump Taj Mahal, reported profit improvements, while four other casino facilities in Atlantic City: Resorts, Showboat, Tropicana and Trump Marina reported substantial declines.
Gaming experts commented that the smoking ban that was enforced in April, numerous slots parlors in Pennsylvania and New York and an ongoing union drive for the 8,000 casino dealers affected the prospects of Atlantic City. Andrew Zarnett from Deutsche Bank said that the ongoing trend remains disappointing.
The summer period normally produces more than 50% of the total profits of Atlantic City total yearly profit. The biggest loser for the period was Trump Marina with a decrease of 13.9% in total profits while Caesars casino reported a 10.8 percent improvement.
Larry Mullin, the president and chief operating officer of the Borgata Casino, which lost $69.8 million, said that the positive thing about the ongoing decline is that it compels the market to reevaluate itself thoroughly and make difficult but important decisions. Slot machine profits decrease 10.7%, while casino table games profits improved 7.2%.
Slot machine profits slid down 11% in Atlantic City while casino table game revenues improved 8.2%. Slots profits are 69.5% of the total profits for the month or about $323.5 million. Casino table games made up the rest of the total at $141.7 million.
The five slots establishment in Pennsylvania reported $103.1 million in profits. From that total amount, 55% is given to the state of Pennsylvania. On the other hand, New Jersey collects 9.24% taxes on the casinos gross gaming profit.
Doug Harbach, the spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Boars said that the slot parlors are continuing to do well. He added that since the first slots opening on November 2006, the slots parlors have produce $384 million in taxes aside from the $450 million in licensing fees.
United Auto Workers said that the employees in the casinos in Atlantic City are unionizing because of disappearing employee benefits and other issues. UAW currently represents four Atlantic City casinos: Caesars Casino, Trump Plaza, Bally's and Tropicana casino. Pennsylvania's sixth slots parlor, the Mount Airy Resort and Casino facility worth $360 million is scheduled to open for business on October 15th, 2007.
The casino is own by businessman Louis DeNaples from Scranton. SugarHouse Gaming and Foxwoods Development LLC are also planning to build two gaming halls at the waterfront of Philadelphia.
10/11/2007 03:34 PM
Davis Coulter