More Bad News for Atlantic City
Wednesday, December 15th, 2010It is no secret that Atlantic City once was a gambling center for the US. Next to Las Vegas, it was the largest place to wager and take advantage of. Millions of gamers every year did just that– took advantage of the huge bonuses the city offered. Then the recession began. That was the beginning of problems for the market with people stopping their wagering activities immediately. They had problems with their bills and had no discretionary funds to speak of. This posed a huge problem for Atlantic City since its entire revenue stream was built on people’s discretionary funds. The area gaming operators created bonuses and promotions and cut costs, but nothing was effective at reviving the market. They were left with seriously diminished revenue and few options to increase that. They had to just wait out the difficult recessionary times. Now that the recession is over though, there are still few signs of revival. This is cause for major concern with casinos because their markets are so far down in numbers. Last month the city posted another loss. This time it was another considerable one—it was a loss of 13% since one month prior. This is horrible news for a market that already had gone through two mass layoffs. Area residents are concerned about the economy and their own job security.
The string of bad luck has plagued the market for months now. It was September that the first notable decline in numbers was noted and it hasn’t gotten better for Q4 of 2010. Now that casino operators are looking to 2011, they can only hope that things change. The state is toying with various online gambling laws that could turn things around. These laws would open the door for money to be brought in to sustain the state’s budget. The problem though is that though the state may find funding it needs, that doesn’t mean casinos in Atlantic City will. They will be left to struggle and find ways of reviving their own markets. Considering that is what they have been doing for months now with little change, things are not looking good.

