Revenue at Atlantic City casinos fell last month, dashing hopes for a second straight advance.

After rising in December for the first time in three-and-a-half years, revenue at Atlantic City casinos dropped 7-point-2 percent in January.
Most of the year-over-year decline resulted from a 20 percent reduction in what the city’s 11 casinos took in from table games.

Israel Posner is executive director of the Institute of Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism at Richard Stockton College. He doesn’t view the January revenue numbers as a big setback.

“The table game win is very variable. It’ll jump up and down based upon the luck of the player and of course the luck of the casino, but the good proxy for overall economic activity in the casinos is really the slot play and that’s relatively flat.”

Roger Gros is publisher of Global Gaming Business Magazine. He does not see the gaming revenue fall-off as an indication of what’s ahead for the Atlantic City market.

“Because Atlantic City is now reaching out to non-gaming customers, people who would come into town, spend their money on restaurants and entertainment, things of that nature, so they’ll spend more money on that and less on gambling.”

Gros says the opening of the Revel casino in April and other development in the Tourism District will help push overall tourism revenue higher in the future.