NJ Land-Based Revenues Tick Down, but Crowds Still Pack AC Casino Floors

^{A roulette dealer at the Hard Rock in Atlantic City. The table game win for the casinos was up in December, but not enough to offset a decline in slots revenue. (Image: Wayne Parry / AP)}

New Jersey gaming numbers for December came in last week and as we put a bow on 2024, the results and trends look somewhat mixed.

The good news for the state? Internet gaming continues to boom. The online casinos in New Jersey saw December Internet Gaming revenue increase 26.5% in December 2024 vs. December 2023, and 24.1% in 2024 as a whole vs. 2023.

The meh news? In person gaming revenues saw slight declines. December 2024 dropped a slight 0.3% from December 2023, though it is important to note that 2024 had one fewer December weekend than 2023. Still, in-person casino revenue declined 1.1% in 2024.

The bad news? 

Sports Wagering Saw Declines in Both Handle and Revenue

The December handle of $1,215,654,736 reflected a 5.36% drop from the $1,284,558,956 in December 2023. Yes again, there was an extra December weekend in 2023, but the November 2024 handle dropped a precipitous 24.53% from November 2023. Further, the casinos had just a 5.17% win rate in December, their worst performance since a 3.1% win rate in February 2022. 

The year as a whole did see improvements in the sports betting business. The casino’s total sports betting handle rose 6.7% and revenues rose 8.74%. 

Roll it all together and the casinos saw Total Gaming Revenue rise 9% year over year. 

Packed Tables at Borgata

My anecdotal observation of the NJ casino business based on a recent visit to Borgata in Atlantic City: Though the numbers say the growth has moved online, the live business still brings in the crowds. 

My son was on his college Winter Break and we took a day trip to Atlantic City one recent very cold Saturday so he could play some poker. Well, turns out plenty of people had the same idea, not to mention they reserve some tables for ongoing tournaments that they run all through January.

You give them your name or initials and they put you on a waiting list of undefined length with no insight into how long you have to wait. They obviously know, they just don’t tell you. All you see is a screen that lists roughly the next 20 players on the waiting list. Oh and that screen rotates between the games. My son went on the Texas Hold ‘Em list, but they also had players waiting for Pot Limit Omaha games, 7 Card Stud games, et al., maybe 5-6 total games. 

There is one screen and the game waiting lists rotate. They call out players' names when they can get a seat, and it happens periodically, but we discovered quickly that the lists scroll VERY slowly, and again, the registration desk and floor staff will not give you even the roughest estimate of the wait time. 

Talking to a few of the many in the crowd, we determined it was not going to go quickly. It did not take rocket science to figure that that is exactly how Borgata wants it. What are you to do while you wait? Go play other table games, go to the sports book, etc. All good … for Borgata. What you probably won’t do is go home without playing anything. 

Yes, we could have left for another casino, but all but one other are on the Boardwalk, whereas Borgata is nearly isolated on the Marina. It's only about a 10-minute drive, but the other issue is that Borgata is THE AC spot for poker.

So we set out to play some table games while checking the wait list periodically. The casino itself was mobbed too. I generally only play blackjack, and just smaller stakes. Well, that’s not a good plan on a super busy Saturday.

Suboptimal Real-Life Game Selection?

On two other visits to Borgata we had no trouble finding blackjack tables, but on a busy Saturday they were few and far between and much higher minimum stakes. If there was a table with a minimum of less than $50 a hand, I didn’t see it.. 

Most of the tables now offered higher win (for the house) games that I have never played, like Pai Gow Poker, Four Card Poker and Let It Ride. They did have video blackjack and semi-video roulette with lower limits ($10 minimums) so we played a bit there.

My impression? I wonder why they do not pop out more of these computerized games. Electronic blackjack plays out much like a “live” dealer, except it's just you and The Machine and the hands fly by. On stadium-stylke roulette, you wager on a video screen but the spin actually occurs in real life with a machine rolling out the ball. The spins occur at regular intervals and at a relatively fast pace, as well.

Long story not particularly short, we interspersed playing with checking the poker waiting list periodically and were just about to call it a night when my son finally spotted his name on the board. Yes, a mere four hours after he signed up he actually got to play. 

Fortunately he’s young and a good player and he said the game was much softer on a weekend then the other couple weekdays we had played there. Still, it's obviously suboptimal to invest that much time to wait, especially when it’s difficult to play anything else you find enjoyable.