Atlantic City casinos hit by 5% revenue decline in Q1

The online gambling market is thriving in 2025. While revenues surge in this market, it makes sense that revenues at land-based casinos are declining.

According to the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE), Atlantic City casinos saw a 5.1% year-on-year decrease in Q1 2025.

Not only this, but profits have declined for the first quarter in three consecutive years for Atlantic City casinos. For Q1 2025, gross operating profit declined by 15%. In 2024, there was a near 9% decline in profits.

These trends are also expected to continue. Early reports for Q2 indicate that play at land-based casinos fell by 3% in April. Sports betting revenue has also significantly fallen by 15% compared to April 2024.

What is Atlantic City doing to change this?

This summer is set to be huge for Atlantic City. The casino scene is set to undergo a sizable $200 million capital investment, including a $40 million beach restoration.

Mark Giannantonio, president of the Casino Association of New Jersey (CANJ), has shared his enthusiasm:

"Atlantic City casinos are ready to welcome new and returning visitors this summer with the best dining, entertainment and gaming amenities on the East Coast.”

"Exciting entertainment attractions and unique offerings are essential to continue to attract visitors to our great city. That is why the casino industry continues to reinvest in our properties to create world-class experiences for our customers."

A number of events, such as airshows and concerts, are also set to take place at Atlantic City this summer. The hope is that this will attract more visitors to the land-based casinos.

Will this actually make an impact?

Despite the investment plans, over $1 billion has already been spent on revitalizing Atlantic City casinos over the past five years. Yet, casino revenues and profits continue to decline.

The American Gaming Association reported a year-over-year rise of 26% in online betting for February 2025, indicating that consumers are preferring to gamble online instead of at land-based casinos.

But Atlantic City isn't the only brick-and-mortar gambling hub that has felt the impact of online gambling. 

Let's explore Las Vegas as a case study and examine the similarities. It might provide a template on how Atlantic City could turn things around.

The story in Vegas

As we mentioned, it’s not just Atlantic City that has seen a reduction in revenues. The Vegas Strip saw a year-on-year reduction in its turnover for December 2024 of 2.7%.

The reason for this? Well, changing consumer preferences to gamble online are making a big impact. However, table games also saw a 16% decline in revenues, outweighing the 11.1% uptick in slot machine revenues. Overall, industry trends indicate consumer preferences for slots over classic table games.

However, the overall state of Nevada did manage to hit new records for the end of last year. This saw the Nevada gaming industry hit a record $1.46 billion in revenue for 2024, thanks to the growth of Clark County, Washoe County, and Downtown Vegas.

A 2025 Nevadan decline

The fall in revenues for the Vegas Strip should have set alarm bells ringing.

The gaming revenue for the Silver State has seen a decline in March 2025 of 1.1% compared to March 2024. The Vegas Strip has also seen a reduction in year-over-year turnover, falling by 4.8%.

Like the end of 2024, there was positive growth coming from Downtown Vegas with an 11.6% revenue increase compared to March 2024.

According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), there was a 7.8% drop in the number of visitors to Southern Nevada compared to March of last year.

But what does the long-term future look like?

Despite the worrying signs across both Sin City and Atlantic City, we have found that the future looks bright, particularly in Vegas.

In a recent study, we estimated that by 2049, over 100 million visitors are predicted to visit Las Vegas each year. By the turn of the century, we anticipate that revenue per minute will reach $2.55 million.

Why do we expect Vegas to continue to prosper? Because it is not just gambling that is drawing in visitors, it is additional experiences, such as nightlife and events, and not just small events either.

Some of the most relevant sporting events have taken place in Vegas recently as well, such as Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium.

Vegas will continue that trend for the rest of 2025. For example, the World Series of Poker takes place between May and July, and concerts from some of the biggest names in the industry.

🎟️ Event	🏟️ Venue	📅 Date
World Series of Poker	Paris Las Vegas & Horseshoe Las Vegas	May 27 - July 16, 2025
Coldplay	Allegiant Stadium	June 6 & June 7, 2025
The Weeknd	Allegiant Stadium	July 4 & July 5, 2025
Life is Beautiful Festival	Downtown Las Vegas	September 27 & 28
Jennifer Lopez	The Colosseum, Caesar's Palace	December 30, 2025 - March 28, 2026

How Atlantic City will follow suit

With Vegas expected to remain popular in spite of the continued rise of online gambling, it explains the efforts made at Atlantic City casinos to increase their hosting of major events.

🎟️ Event	🏟️ Venue	📅 Date
Queens of the Stone Age	Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena	June 13, 2025
North to Shore Festival	Atlantic City	June 14 - June 29, 2025
Def Leppard	Borgata Event Center	June 28, 2025
Beach Road Trip Weekend	Atlantic City Beach	July 11 - July 13, 2025
Visit Atlantic City Soar & Shore Festival	Atlantic City Beach	July 15 - July 16, 2025

For example, this July, the Visit Atlantic City Soar and Shore festival is set to take place. Casinos are also opening brand-new attractions, such as gourmet steakhouses, live concert performances, nightclubs, and bars.

The hope is that this continued investment will eventually lead to stabilized revenues.