New Jersey Casino Revenue Record Loss From Sandy: State Prepares for Online Bets
The numbers are in and they are terrible. Super Storm Sandy not only ravaged the New Jersey coastline, it also crippled the state's all-important casino sector.
Revel was among the worst hit with revenues down 33 percent from the $9.3 million generated in October of last year.
Revel exhausted most of its mid-August $100 million credit line as of the end of November.
In a statement Monday, the casino's management said: "Revel was fortunate to have weathered Hurricane Sandy with minor damage, with both the beach and Boardwalk intact; however, the hurricane clearly impacted November gross gaming revenue for Revel and Atlantic City in general. The storm has impacted business from the areas in New Jersey and New York that sustained major damage."
"Clearly," the statement went on to say, "the visitation was impacted as those areas work to get their lives back to some type of normalcy. We are hopeful that as those areas recover, so will the visitation to Atlantic City. We remain focused on our overall casino experience. . . . We're looking forward to a solid end to 2012."
But industry experts said the aftermath of Sandy will be felt for a while.
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"Results for the past two months have been decimated by property closures due to Hurricane Sandy," gaming analyst John Kempf, of RBC Capital Markets L.L.C., wrote in an investor note Monday. ". . . However, the real issue remains the lost visitation by people who were severely impacted by the storm. It is our opinion that it will take a number of months for volumes to return to normalized levels."
Declines in Atlantic City ranged from 0.4 percent at Golden Nugget to 46 percent at Bally's.
The Garden State is expected to pass legislation that would legalize online gambling within its borders with the ultimate goal to form multi-state and international compacts.
New Jersey will begin licensing sports betting operators next month even while embroiled in a legal battle with four professional sports leagues and the NCAA, all of which are collectively opposed to wagering on sporting events.
- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com
