Figures released by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement show the state’s nine casinos took $262.4m on their gaming floors last month, compared to $199.1m in August 2020.
A little more than $198m of this came from slot machines, with table games accounting for just shy of $64.4m, both up from the same time last year.
This marks a significant return to form for the East Coast gaming hub, which saw its casinos close their doors between 16 March and 2 July 2020.
Even when they were allowed to reopen, it came with restrictions that limited capacity and barred indoor dining, smoking and drinking, severely impacting nearly all of the nine operators in the state.
This means the figures from August 2021 represent a recovery for land-based gaming in New Jersey, but the total win is a 5.3% drop from July and an 8.4% slide since pre-pandemic August 2019.
“In August 2020, all of Atlantic City’s casino hotels were open, but business was affected by capacity restrictions and other limitations,” said James Plousis, Chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, in a comment to AP. “These results demonstrate the casino hotels made strides building customer confidence since reopening.”
However, there is one area that has seen substantial growth, even exceeding pre-Covid levels.
When you factor in sports betting and iGaming, Atlantic City’s nine casinos reported GGR of $397.6m, a $58.8m improvement from the $338.8m the casinos won from all gaming verticals in August 2019.
The casinos’ $397.6m takings rise to over $427.6m when sports betting from the state’s three horse racetracks is included, reflecting a 31% increase over the $326.3m of August 2020, and a 21.2% bump from August 2019.
