March 2025
In LIGHT of the data.
March 2025 may mark a watershed moment for the Atlantic City gaming industry. For the second consecutive month, revenue from the internet gaming sector ($244 million) has surpassed revenue from brick-and-mortar operations ($231 million). Internet gaming revenue for the month also set a new single month record — surpassing the record of $222 million set in January of this year. In perhaps an even more stark contrast, monthly traditional brick-and-mortar gaming revenues were down nearly 4% year-over-year compared to a nearly 24% year-over-year increase in monthly internet gaming revenues.
Rounding out the first quarter of 2025, internet gaming led the industry at $673 million in revenue for the year-to-date compared the $644 million realized by traditional brick-and- mortar operations in the same period. Given the first quarter of the year is traditionally slow for land-based operations, especially in the face of unfavorable weather conditions, it is impossible to say if this is a trend that will continue into the spring and summer season when the resort traditionally sees more visitors.
In a somewhat surprising turn of events, sports wagering revenues for both retail and online sportsbooks operated by casino and racetracks alike are down both for the month and the year-to-date to the tune of 20% and 19%, respectively. Sports wagering handle increased in March 2025 ($1.1 billion) compared to February 2025 ($0.99 billion), but declined compared to March 2024 ($1.3 billion).
Regarding year-end 2024, another year of record high gross gaming revenue at $5.7 billion failed to translate into significant net gaming revenue gains for Atlantic City's casino operators.
While managing to stay in the black and deliver a total year-end net revenue just 0.5% shy of 2023, increases in expenses and drags on consumer demand (initially observed in the third quarter and following through into the fourth) likely resulted in the disproportionate decline of 9.2% in year-over-year gross operating profit for Atlantic City's casino operators.
Of note, at $709.1 million, gross operating profit for year-end 2024 still managed to improve on pre-pandemic year-end 2019 at $593.9 million (total as reported in DGE fourth quarter 2020 report).
In a period of potentially flattening brick-and-mortar market growth, as operators
compete to maintain customer loyalty, visitation and spending, higher promotional
expenses and higher operating costs can be expected. However, continued growth in
the internet gaming and sports wagering markets (which contributed to a year-end contribution
of more than half a $1 billion in gross gaming revenue tax from Atlantic City's casino
industry) were not enough to offset this and losses in gross operating profit from
other areas.
The drag on consumer demand seen in the third quarter of 2024 in the form of decreased
room rates (believed to be the result of operators adjusting prices to balance reductions
in demand due to the lack of several large-scale events in the city) manifested again
in the fourth quarter.
Although already a slow period for the resort, occupancy rates for Atlantic City's casino hotels (65.6% in fourth quarter 2024) were down slightly in comparison to the same period in 2023 (66.5%) despite a notable decrease in average daily room rate ($160.27 in fourth quarter 2024 compared to $164.04 in the same period of 2023). A small silver lining, fourth quarter 2024 still managed to outperform fourth quarter 2022, which saw occupancy at 65.8% and average daily room rates at $155.75.
Lodging statistics for year-end 2024, with occupancy rate at 72% and average daily room rate at $177.79 for the year compared to 73% and $180.67 respectively for year-end 2023, were consistent with these observations for the third and fourth quarters.
Atlantic City Gaming Win & Total Casino Revenue
Source:
| Monthly Revenue (Casino Licensees, $ In Thousands |
March 2025 |
% Change from Prior Year | March 2024 | YTD
2025 |
% Change from Prior Year | YTD 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Casino Gaming Win | $230,892 | -3.7% | $239,760 | $644,424 | -1.8% | $656,391 |
| Internet Gaming Win | $243,889 | 23.7% | $197,195 | $673,269 | 19.6% | $562,811 |
| Sports Wagering Revenue* | $43,671 | 40.2% | $31,157 | $145,588 | 19.8% | 121,485 |
| Total Gaming Win (includes Internet & Sports Wagering) | $518,452 | 10.8% | $468,112 | $1,463,281 | 9.1% | $1,340,687 |
| Quarterly Revenue (Industry, $ In Millions)** | Q4 2024 | % Change from Prior Year | Q4 2023 | YTD December 31, 2024 | % Change from Prior Year | YTD December 31, 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Casino | $397.6 | -2.3% | $407.1 | $1,661 | -1.1% | $1,679.2 |
| Rooms | $147.4 | -3.6% | $153.8 | $716.5 | -2.5% | $735.2 |
| Food & Beverage | $135.1 | -0.3% | $135.5 | $574.5 | 0.0% | $574.7 |
| Entertainment & Other | $88.8 | 2.8% | $86.4 | $360.2 | 5.9% | $340.0 |
| Casino Licensees Total Net Revenue | $768.9 | -1.7% | $781.9 | $3,311.8 | -0.5% | $3,329.3 |
| Gross Operating Profit (GOP) | $132.5 | -10.8% | $148.5 | $709.2 | -9.2% | $780.7 |
* Data as reported in New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement for individual licensees for respective months. May not match .
** Data agregated from New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement for individual properties. May not match totals from which represent a 'snapshot' of data at the time of publication and are not retroactively updated.
Atlantic City Hotel Lodging
Source:
| Casino Hotel Lodging Statistics For the Period Ended September 30, 2024 & 2023 |
Q4 2024 | Q4 2023 | YTD 2024 | YTD 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Occupancy percentage | 65.6% | 66.5% | 72.0% | 73.0% |
| Average Daily Room Rate (ADR) | $160.27 | $164.04 | $177.79 | $180.67 |
| Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR)* | $105.14 | $109.07 | $128.01 | $131.57 |
* RevPAR= ADR X Occupancy Percentage
Atlantic City Casino Operator Taxes & Fees
Source:
Total Paid Taxes & Fees |
220,981,303 | $202,372,000 | 9.2% | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Taxes & Fees |
Q4 2024 | Q4 2023 | % | |||
|
Casino Gaming Gross Revenue Tax |
42,177,309 | $41,117,000 | 2.6% | |||
|
Internet Gaming Gross Revenue Tax |
98,285,127 | $77,886,000 | 26.2% | |||
|
Sports Wagering - Retail Gross Revenue Tax (includes racetracks) |
604,230 | $1,039,000 | -41.8% | |||
|
Sports Wagering - Internet Gross Revenue Tax (includes racetracks) |
32,890,931 | $37,005,000 | -11.1% | |||
| Investment Alternative Tax/CRDA Obligations | 24,686,158 | $21,425,000 | 15.2% | |||
| 1.25% Additional Tax | 1,693,445 | $1,405,000 | 20.5% | |||
| 1.25% EDT | 1,545,570 | $2,308,000 | -33.0% | |||
| Luxury Tax | 8,516,928 | $9,556,000 | -10.9% | |||
| Tourism Promotion Fee | 1,899,002 | $1,945,000 | -2.4% | |||
| Hotel Room Fee | 2,758,068 | $2,795,000 | -1.3% | |||
| Hotel Room Surcharge | 1,838,712 | $1,863,000 | -1.3% | |||
| Parking Fees | 4,085,823 | $4,028,000 | 1.4% | |||
Atlantic City Casino Operator Spending
Source: - Member Reported
| Total | $143,126,063 | $195,709,609 | -26.9% | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Purchase of Goods and Services From New Jersey Vendors(By County) |
Q4 2024 | Q4 2023 | |||
| Atlantic | $87,157,650 | $104,259,719 | -16.4% | ||
| Bergen | $3,016,168 | $3,824,017 | -21.1% | ||
| Burlington | $3,210,041 | $3,748,473 | -14.4% | ||
| Camden | $4,505,412 | $5,710,417 | -21.1% | ||
| Cape May | $2,338,743 | $1,973,663 | 18.5% | ||
| Cumberland | $4,396,910 | $5,057,329 | -13.1% | ||
| Essex | $10,414,741 | $10,882,741 | -4.3% | ||
| Gloucester | $2,273,721 | $1,887,328 | 20.5% | ||
| Hudson | $788,450 | $430,000 | 83.4% | ||
| Hunterdon | $18,693 | $43,220 | -56.7% | ||
| Mercer | $4,282,983 | $6,323,970 | -32.3% | ||
| Middlesex | $3,635,497 | $2,701,847 | 34.6% | ||
| Monmouth | $3,479,775 | $2,779,288 | 25.2% | ||
| Morris | $2,364,116 | $2,441,912 | -3.2% | ||
| Ocean | $1,809,421 | $920,066 | 96.7% | ||
| Passaic | $1,284,891 | $1,055,955 | 21.7% | ||
| Salem | $76,624 | $96,747 | -20.8% | ||
| Somerset | $2,448,137 | $1,927,589 | 27.0% | ||
| Sussex | $5,974 | $8,493 | -29.7% | ||
| Union | $5,615,129 | $4,545,689 | 23.5% | ||
| Warren | $2,963 | $1,097 | 170.2% | ||
Other Spending |
Q4 2024 | Q4 2023 | % | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Capital Expenditures | $46,984,010 | $64,227,515 | -26.8% | |||
| PILOT Contributions (Includes PILOT & additional payments under PILOT legislation) | $28,616,166 | $28,242,109 | 1.3% | |||
| CRDA Special Improvement District | $323,863 | $322,582 | 0.4% | |||
| Municipal/Atlantic City Fees- Water | $1,380,885 | $1,410,845 | 46.3% | |||
| Municipal/Atlantic City Fees- Sewer | $1,380,885 | $1,410,845 | -2.1 | |||
|
Municipal/Atlantic City Fees- Other (permits, boardwalk seating, mercantile etc.) |
$723,083 | $494,103 | 46.3% | |||
| Charitable Contributions | $203,816 | $252,181 | -19.2% | |||
Total Spending |
$365,450,328 | $452,528,097 | -19.2% |
|---|
Atlantic City Statistical Transportation Data
Source:
| Travel Mode | February 2025 |
February 2024 |
Change from Prior Year |
YTD 2025 |
YTD 2024 |
Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AC Expressway | ||||||
| Total Toll-Paying Traffic Pleasantville Toll Plaza |
1,142,283 | 1,270,834 | -10.1% | 2,327,711 | 2,504,133 | -7.1% |
| AC Airport | ||||||
| Scheduled Service Passengers | 61,534 | 77,895 | -21.0% | 121,363 | 142,668 | -14.9% |
| Charter Passengers | 5,388 | 6,922 | -22.2% | 10,206 | 11,404 | -10.5% |
| Total Air Passengers | 66,922 | 84,817 | -21.1% | 131,569 | 154,072 | -14.6% |
Atlantic City Meetings and Conventions Data
Source:
| March '25 | March '24 | % Change from Prior Year |
TOTAL 2025 YTD |
TOTAL 2024 YTD |
% Change from Prior Year |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conventions/Tradeshows/Meetings1 | ||||||
| # of Shows | 7 | 9 | -22% | 19 | 22 | -14% |
| # of Room Nights | 8,461 | 7,612 | 11% | 39,843 | 39,423 | 1% |
| # of Attendees3 | 89,780 | 98,896 | -9% | 171,186 | 179,409 | -5% |
| Delegate Spending | $20,561,587 | $15,022,218 | 37% | $47,082,053 | $41,150,732 | 14% |
| Boardwalk Hall Bookings | ||||||
| # of Shows | 2 | 1 | 100% | 9 | 5 | 80% |
| # of Attendees | 19,402 | 12,198 | 59% | 39,561 | 34,984 | 13% |