NJ's casinos in Atlantic City not seeing summer tourism rebound, state regulators say

New Jersey’s nine casinos are not seeing a desired summer rebound, according to the latest figures released by state regulators.

Although revenue surged from online gambling and online and mobile sports betting in July, the numbers were far more lackluster at the in-person casinos , which are all based in the South Jersey seaside gambling resort town of Atlantic City.

“While many were hopeful that the summer of 2024 for Atlantic City casinos would see a rebound in drive-in visitors after last year’s trend of people taking their 'dream vacation' and flying to destinations, the July in-person gaming numbers suggest that is not the case,” said Jane Bokunewicz, director of Stockton University’s Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism, which studies New Jersey’s casino market.

Story continues below photo gallery .

Bokunewicz pointed to recent air travel figures put out by the federal Transportation Security Administration : 32 million air travelers between the end of June and July 4 weekend.

Those suggest that “more people are choosing fly-to destinations for their vacations compared to drive-to destinations or even ‘staycations,’” she said.

“This would be a reversal or more likely a rebound of recent trends that have favored drive-to destinations as the result of some travelers’ post-pandemic reluctance to fly,” Bokunewicz said.

Casino gambling numbers broken down

Added Bill Pascrell III, a casino industry lobbyist, "Post-pandemic, many people in the region have built up aspirations to go on extended vacations abroad and out of the area."

Other factors like beach replenishment from storm erosion, as well as the cancellation of the 2024 airshow typically scheduled for July also kept visitors away from the seaside gambling mecca.

Online gambling revenue in July was over $195 million — or a 26% increase from last year — said the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement , which regulates the casinos.

Revenue from sports betting was $80 million last month, or a 31.2% increase from July last year. On the other hand, the casinos made $272 million last month at their brick and mortar operations in Atlantic City, which was down 6.1% from last year.

All told, New Jersey's nine casinos and their online gambling operations brought in $548 million this past July, or an 8.2% year-over-year increase.

While casinos saw their highest revenue numbers in a over decade, that was almost exclusively thanks to internet gambling, said James Plousis, chair of the Casino Control Commission, another state regulatory body.

Plousis, Pascrell and Corey Sharp, a writer for the gambling trade publication PlayNJ.com, all noted that July had fewer weekend days this year — eight — versus the nine in August.

“The casinos have not fully recovered their in-person visitation,” Jeffrey Vasser, head of the state’s Division of Travel and Tourism, which markets New Jersey to other regions around the nation and the world as a vacation destination, said in an interview earlier this year .

Meanwhile, business travel has struggled to return to its pre-pandemic levels, said Vasser and Joshua Friedlander, vice president of research at the U.S. Travel Association.

That poses a problem for a municipality that — with its ample conference, convention and hotel space — depends on business travel, especially during the colder months after tourists return home.

“People are still doing some of their meetings virtually,” Vasser said. “They may still do their big meeting in person, but some of the regional meetings … they’re doing virtually.”

Losing out to regional competition

State officials in New York are offering three casino licenses in the New York City area .

Mark Giannantonio, president of Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City and of the Casino Association of New Jersey, a trade group, referred to such a prospect as a “threat” to the South Jersey gambling city.

Meanwhile James Allen, chief executive officer at Hard Rock International — which has a hotel casino in Atlantic City — previously estimated that between 20% and 30% of Atlantic City’s visitors come from North Jersey and the New York area, according to PlayNJ .

New Jersey already faces competition from several casinos close to its borders: Empire Casino in Yonkers, just north of New York City; Resorts World in Queens; several casinos in Philadelphia, and another in Delaware.

And several efforts are underway to build out new casinos in the New York City metropolitan area.

"I don't think Atlantic City is the destination location it used to be in the past. It seems to be less likely that people will want to spend a day or weekend in Atlantic City for the beach and gambling in the summer," said Sharp of PlayNJ.

Jeff Gural, owner of the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, wants to revisit the idea for a casino in the racetrack’s backyard, with a price tag as high as $2 billion.

“I can’t imagine that people in northern New Jersey are going to be happy driving over the George Washington Bridge and paying $18 in tolls and sitting in traffic in order to get to the casino,” he told NorthJersey.com in April.

Daniel Munoz covers business, consumer affairs, labor and the economy for NorthJersey.com and The Record.

Email: munozd@northjersey.com ; Twitter: @danielmunoz100 and Facebook

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ's casinos in Atlantic City not seeing summer tourism rebound, state regulators say