ATLANTIC CITY, N,J. (AP) — Atlantic City’s casinos were less profitable in 2023 than they were a year earlier, even with help from the state’s booming online gambling market.
Figures released Monday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement show the nine casinos collectively reported a gross operating profit of $744.7 million in 2023, a decline of 1.6% from 2022. When two internet-only entities affiliated with several of the casinos are included, the decline in profitability was 4.1% on earnings of $780 million.
All nine casinos were profitable in 2023, but only three saw an increase in profitability.
Gross operating profit represents earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and other expenses, and is a widely-accepted measure of profitability in the Atlantic City casino industry.
The figures “suggest it is getting more expensive for New Jersey’s casinos to operate, and patron spending may not be keeping pace,” said Jane Bokunewicz, director of the Lloyd Levenson Institute at Stockton University, which studies the Atlantic City gambling market.
“The same forces that might be tightening visitors’ purse strings — inflation, increased consumer prices — are also forcing operators to dig deeper into their pockets,” she said.
