Atlantic City gaming revenue up in November without Sandy shutdown

The 12 resorts took in nearly $225 million from gamblers last month, up from $176.6 million in November 2012, the Division of Gaming Enforcement reported. This year’s total includes $60.3 million from table games and $164.4 million from slots.
All but one gaming hall, Trump Plaza, recorded increases in casino winnings, the DGE said. Revel recorded the largest increase — a staggering 134 percent increase, to $14.6 million from $6.2 million — after struggling mightily in its first year-plus of operation.
November was the second straight month in which the casinos notched a rare year-over-year increase, but largely because of Sandy last fall. The storm caused state officials to order the casinos closed for several days starting in late October.
That created a 3.6 percent bump from October 2012 to October 2013, the DGE said last month. The November results make it just the fourth time in seven years that gaming revenue for a single month rose year over year, as the casinos grapple with the economic downturn and increased East Competition.
The resort town’s rebound from Sandy was also evident in non-gaming indicators released today by the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority. The convention center hosted seven events last month, up from just one in November 2012 after several of the largest functions were forced to cancel.
The return of events such as League of Municipalities convention led to $27.2 million in spending from more than 63,000 delegates for last month, while the facility drew just 45 delegates and $4,228 in spending a year earlier.
Conventions and meetings at casino properties arranged by the ACCVA remained flat at five for the month, but the number of delegates jumped 20 percent to 855, the authority reported. Those delegates spent $476,000, up 23 percent from November 2012.
Year-to-date, total gaming revenue for the city is down 6 percent through November, totaling just over $2.6 billion.