Continuing a trend that has been prevalent since the beginning of the current calendar year, the New Jersey Casino Control Commission reported that casino revenues were down once again for the month of July.
On Monday, the NJCCC reported that the casino win rate – the amount of money taken in by the casinos throughout the state and not their net earnings – totaled slightly over $383 million, a decrease of 12.7 percent versus the same time frame last year (roughly $438 million). Revenue earned from machine games (slots, video poker, etc.) totaled $266.8 million and table games (craps, poker, etc.) racked up $162.2 million. These numbers are down 12.4 percent for slot gaming and 13.4 percent for table games.
After adjustments and a deduction for promotional gaming credits, casinos paid $28.1 million on taxable gross revenue of $351.1 million in July. That money, 8 percent of taxable gross revenue, goes into the Casino Revenue Fund, which pays for programs that benefit qualifying senior citizens and people with disabilities. In addition, the casinos incurred another $4.8 million in reinvestment obligations. They are required to reinvest 1.25 percent of gross revenues in projects approved by the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority.
The July numbers only add on to what has been a dismal year in the New Jersey casino scene. For the first seven months of this year, casinos won $2.3 billion, down 14.9 percent from the same period in 2008. Revenue from slot machines is down 15.3 percent and revenue from table games is down 14 percent for the seven months. Taxable gross revenue fell 18.5 percent to $2.22 billion.
The top-earning casino for the month of July was the Borgata, which pulled in a win of almost $65 million or roughly $2 million per day. Even though this sounds extremely strong, the Borgata topped it last year when they pulled a win of $71 million in July. The other casinos in the Top Five for win in July 2009 were Bally’s Atlantic City ($46.6 million), Caesars Atlantic City ($44.9 million), the Trump Taj Mahal ($44.0 million) and the Tropicana ($31 million), but all were below their performances of 2008.
For the year, the Borgata has a tremendous lead in win over the rest of the casinos in New Jersey. Through the first seven months of 2009, the Borgata has pulled in a win of $408.5 million, although it is down from last year’s win of $430.8 million. The Borgata is far ahead of Bally’s, the second place New Jersey casino, which has taken in a casino win of $281.1 million for the year to date. The same casinos that rank in the Top Five for the month of July also are the top five for the year overall, but the Taj Mahal passes Caesars for third in the year to date casino win race.
A look deeper into the July report displays that gaming revenues have been on the decline for a longer time period than previously thought. July 2005 was the greatest month for casinos in the history of New Jersey gaming, when $504.8 million was in action in the Garden State’s casinos. Since that point, each July has shown a decline in casino win, from $480 million in 2006 to the previous July low of $438.7 last year.