Our community's casino industry just posted impressive numbers for April, but a closer look reveals a tale of two very different realities playing out on the Atlantic City boardwalk.
Atlantic City's casinos, along with two horse tracks that accept sports bets and their online partners, collectively won more than $600 million in April — a 12% increase that sounds like cause for celebration. The surge was driven by strong performance across in-person gambling, sports betting, and internet gambling.
But here's what those headline numbers don't tell you: five of the city's nine casinos are still winning less money from in-person gamblers than they were back in April 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic upended our world.
This matters because in-person gambling represents what casino operators consider their core business — the money that stays entirely with them. Unlike sports betting and internet gambling revenue, which must be shared with outside parties like sportsbooks and technology platforms, winnings from people actually walking through casino doors belongs solely to the house.
The disparity highlights a fundamental shift in how people are choosing to gamble. While overall revenue climbs thanks to the convenience of online platforms and mobile sports betting, the traditional casino floor experience — once the lifeblood of Atlantic City — hasn't fully recovered for more than half of our casinos.
For Atlantic City, a community whose identity and economy have long been intertwined with its casinos, these numbers present both opportunity and challenge. The digital gambling boom is clearly bringing money into New Jersey's gambling ecosystem, but the question remains: can our brick-and-mortar casinos recapture the magic that once drew crowds to their gaming floors?
As we head into the busy summer season, casino operators will be watching closely to see whether increased tourism and promotional efforts can finally push in-person gambling numbers back to pre-pandemic levels — or whether the industry's future lies primarily in the digital realm.
