The Atlantic City gaming market has seen a great turnaround over the past few years. After suffering from several casino closures and a downturn of revenues, the market seems to have perked back up. With the addition of online gaming revenues, the industry is booming. However, one owner of a casino in the region feels that Atlantic City is setting themselves up for failure with nine casinos in operation.
Tilman Fertitta’s Thoughts
Just recently, Tilman Fertitta, the owner of Fertitta Entertainment, a company that operates the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City, was interviewed by the Press of Atlantic City. During the interview, the billionaire owner was there to talk about a new book he wrote called Shut Up and Listen. As he was talking, Fertitta decided to give his two cents about Atlantic City, stating the casino market is making the same mistakes and heading for a downturn in the future.
Fertitta was critical of the new venues that opened last summer, the Ocean Casino Resort and the Hard Rock Atlantic City. With the addition of the two casinos, the region is now home to nine properties. According to Fertitta, Atlantic City is not a nine casino market and he doesn’t understand why no one else sees that.
According to the casino owner, the opening of the new casinos resulted in several employees who have previously been laid off gaining employment. However, every other casino had to layoff jobs. He also says the casinos do not have the cash flow that they previously did.
The Hard Rock has done well from the beginning, but the Ocean Casino Resort has struggled. Their best month was actually in August. However, Fertitta feels that the profit shortfalls will be the undoing of the region.
Casino Closures
For a little history, the Atlantic City region was subject to four casino closures in 2014 and then one more by 2016. The market was suffering from low traffic and dismal revenues. According to Fertitta, the venues closed because operators did not have the money to keep the properties new and fresh. He says the market is acting the same way and Atlantic City will face the same issues in the future.
It does seem that Fertitta is alone in his thoughts. Atlantic City seems to be thriving with no signs of slowing down. Land-based revenues are solid and online gaming continues to skyrocket, setting new records for revenues month after month.
In the past, there was fear of saturation, particularly in the online gambling market, but so far so good. Even the launch of sports betting only caused the online gambling industry grow rather then slip back to losses.
For Fertitta, he is not afraid to have his opinions and tell them to the world. His Golden Nugget is highly successful and should be earning even more cash in the future as the venue can now accept wagers on National Basketball Association games.
Fertitta is the owner of the Houston Rockets and was formerly not allowed to offer NBA wagers due to his association with the team. However, new legislation recently passed that gives the venue the option to offer NBA wagers, though bets on the Rockets are not allowed.
The new category for sports betting should help the Golden Nugget continue to reign supreme when it comes to online gambling as even more options are on the table for bettors!
