It shouldn’t be a surprise that Las Vegas earns more than Atlantic City on things other than gambling. However, it’s a little shocking – not surprising – to see how much Las Vegas’ percentage of revenue comes from sources outside of gambling versus Atlantic City.
…But Atlantic City still has a long way to go before it can reach Las Vegas’ level, where about 60 percent of revenue comes from nongaming ventures, said Cory Morowitz, of Morowitz Gaming Advisors LLC, in Galloway Township.
Last year, nongaming revenue in Atlantic City was probably less than 10 percent after discounting comped goods, Morowitz said.
“I don’t think we can get to 60 percent,” he added. “We just don’t have the room size that Las Vegas has. Rooms are the biggest driver.”
As I mentioned there’s no surprise that the nongaming revenues are greater in Las Vegas than Atlantic City. Las Vegas has put a lot of effort into creating those revenue streams for better or worse.
Borgata was the first casino to really put effort into creating nongaming revenues and Harrah’s Resort and Tropicana have followed suit by enhancing their club experiences. Bally’s is starting down that road by renovating their properties (Claridge and Wild Wild West) and Harrah’s is considering rebranding Showboat.
These are all good steps to separating Atlantic City from the rest of the East Coast casinos that have been popping up over the past few years.
In addition to expanding their club scene I think (actually, I know) that better restaurants and more shows need to follow to grow this revenue stream and separate Atlantic City from the rest of the casinos.
Happy Independence Day, my fellow Americans! I was away in Atlantic City this weekend and that made for a slow start to the week for ECG as I got sick (two trips in a row) and didn’t get home until Monday night. With that said, here are the few items from last week.
Boyd Gaming announced their new players club called B Connected. The club will include all Las Vegas properties, but NOT Borgata in Atlantic City.
The B Connected brand will be available at 13 Boyd Gaming properties, which include all of the company’s Las Vegas properties. The membership program does not include the Borgata in Atlantic City.
One of the reasons Harrah’s has so much east coast traffic is because Total Rewards can be used at any location, including Las Vegas.
I see this as a sign that Boyd will not purchase MGM’s 50% of Borgata and probably a bad sign for Atlantic City, in general. This should help the Harrah’s Atlantic City properties keep an edge over the best casino in the market.
I was away this weekend and didn’t have a chance to get last weeks posts up for review. Enjoy looking back. I should be back with some new things later this week. You can check my posterous to see what I was up to last week.
The Borgata, in Atlantic City, had their casino license extended for 5 more years.
Half of it is up for sale with no owner in sight, but the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa is the best thing the nation’s second-largest casino market has going for it right now.
Largely for that reason, the New Jersey Casino Control Commission granted the Borgata a new five-year license Thursday, assuming the ownership will work itself out in the coming year or two.
There is no surprise to this extension. The Borgata is easily the shining star in Atlantic City. While every casino’s revenues in Atlantic City are falling, the Borgata has been dropping less. I’m curious to see who steps up to buy MGM’s half of this casino. Maybe that will happen when revenues stop falling every month.
This week in review has a good amount of action. There was stuff from east to west to TV. Even though I swore off horse racing, I gave the Preakness a shot and I had another loss. Oh well, it was a small bet. Back to the week that was..
