Despite Flagging Gaming Revenue, Atlantic City Hotels Remain Full

Atlantic City, once the biggest gambling center east of the Mississippi River, has been experiencing revenue declines for years, ever since peaking back in 2006.

While the city may be struggling to take in gambling dollars, the Press of Atlantic City reported today that hotel rooms in Atlantic City are holding steady in terms of occupancy rates.

This year’s numbers compare favorably to 2012 figures

According to the report, third quarter occupancy rates for Atlantic City hotels stood at 91 percent. Last year, the same period saw occupancy numbers reach 92 percent.

The data is interesting, especially in light of the fact that in the same period of time, the third quarter of 2013, operating profits among the city’s dozen land-based casino properties dipped by more than eight percent.

Tourists not spending on gambling 

Earlier this year, reports out of Nevada indicated that while tourists have been returning to Las Vegas in droves after a lull period surrounding the recession, many of those visitors are choosing to spend their money not on gambling, but rather on shows, entertainment, shopping, and other amenities.

This is something that both states are hoping to change with the advent of Internet-based betting, which is now legal in both Nevada and New Jersey.

Though it remains to be seen whether the regulation of real money online poker in Nevada, and a full suite of online betting options in New Jersey, will bring in a new sector of iGaming tourists, gaming regulators, online gambling operators, and the casino industry are all hoping that the nascent industry will inject a new stream of revenue into the U.S. gambling economy in states where it is permitted.

Full New Jersey launch cleared for takeoff

New Jersey is particularly suited to take advantage of iGaming tourism, should it prove to be a large draw, due to its location not far from several large U.S. cities.

The Garden State wraps up its Internet betting soft launch today, with the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement announcing this afternoon that all of the casinos who took part in the soft launch are cleared to operate once the sites open fully. That is set to take place tomorrow morning, November 26, at 9 a.m. local time.

Those companies include Caesars, Bally’s, Trump Plaza, Trump Taj Mahal, the Borgata, and Tropicana. A full list of companies that will be up and running can be found here.

Anyone wishing to log on to a real money gambling site must be located within the borders of New Jersey when doing so. Players will also need to be above the legal betting age of twenty-one and will be required to submit to location and age verification checks.

During the soft launch, players have reported some issues with credit card processing, with those using Mastercard having a much easier time getting money onto the sites than those using other forms of payment, particularly Visa cards, are experiencing.