The status of gambling in Atlantic City was not looking good in the previous years. However, this has changed thanks to the growth of online gambling. Reports have it that casinos in Atlantic City experienced a 1.7% increase in revenue for the month of October.
Though this might not sound much, it’s still a considerable growth as the city hasn’t experienced this in the years prior. If it was not for the $20.4 million revenue from online gambling, all the seven casinos in the city would have experienced a 0.3 % decline in revenue for October. The casinos in the city earned $203 million in October of 2016.
However, that figure has been added an extra $3.3 million thanks to the ever-increasing trend of online casinos. To prove this, Caesar’s experienced a 9.5% increase as it earned $25.7 million while the Golden Nugget got a 17.5% increase reaching $24.2 million.
Then there was the 1.7% and 3.5% increase of Bally’s and Harrah’s which gave them $16.8 million and $30.3 million. Even the Tropicana’s revenue went up by 0.5$ and earned $28.1 million. It’s said that one of the most plausible reasons why this is happening might be due to the free casino bonuses with no deposits required that are featured in online casinos.
The only casino that didn’t have a slice of fortune was Atlantic City as its revenue went down by 7.4%, which is equivalent to $59.4 million. But take note that even the recently closed Taj Mahal is scheduled to re-open this coming summer.
This was once owned by President Donald Trump. But thanks to the investments of Carl Icahn, the Taj Mahal will be open to guests soon. And it will be under its new name, the Hard Rock casino resort.
Online gambling has experienced a 23% increase from last year, which is a very significant improvement. This shows that the city is coping up with the subsequent bankruptcy of its five casinos. The current statistics show that all Atlantic City casinos earned a total of $2.2 billion in winnings. This is a 2% increase from last year.
So what can we conclude with this? Well, the answer to that is simple, and that online gambling is undoubtedly the future of gambling. As much as we like to stick with all the glitz and glamour of luxurious casinos, time will still come when these casinos will turn into full-fledged hotel resorts.
In fact, it's already happening now as casinos are now being rebranded as casino resorts. This is proof that people aren't just gambling when inside these 5-star casino/resorts, but that their main purpose is the accommodation and amenities, and not to merely gamble.
To sum it all up, die-hard gamblers now prefer online casinos over the land-based ones. Is it a good thing? Most likely it is. But then again, everything has its cons. It now all depends on the person's self-discipline.