 Last year was certainly a rough one for many of us and Atlantic City’s Gambling Industry certainly felt the blow of a down economy. The New Jersey Casino Control Commission recently released revenue reports for the last year and they were definitely not pretty. Total revenues were recorded as dropping down a shocking 13.2% from 2008 marking it as the single worst year financially for the industry since 1997 with businesses taking back over a billion dollars less than they did in 2007. In fact over the last year every casino in the city proved to bring in less money with declines ranging from 5.9% to a whopping 22.9% per casino. Despite this apparent travesty most Atlantic City Casino operators remain optimistic due in part to the slight improvements seen in the industry for December despite heavy snow fall interrupting travel for part of the month. It is generally no surprise to anyone that the industry would be suffering some major losses considering the current state of the economy. As the economy picks up so should all major industries including the gambling market so it is reasonable to hope that better days are on the way despite tough times. There are a few however that are not so certain this means any dramatic improvement for Atlantic City in the future. They see that the economy isn’t the only factor when it comes to waning business. As more states become more liberal in regards to gambling regulations they find themselves competing with more people for control of the market. Things certainly do not look good from this view since neighboring states Delaware and Pennsylvania have both recently passed legislation allowing table games at their gambling establishments. It will take them a little while to get things up and running but there is no doubt that once they do it will have a dramatic effect on Atlantic City’s overall business. As it stands this may be the end of an era for the once and still prominent gambling city. There is still some hope out there that things will improve in the next few years but it certainly doesn’t look like they will be enjoying the annual improvements they were once so accustomed too. No way to say for sure what the results will be though, until the economy picks up. Like everyone else, they will just have to be patient and see what happens.
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