Atlantic City Look To Boost Gaming Revenues In 2019

The once troubled Atlantic City casino industry has experienced a turnaround this year and things are expected to get better going into the New Year. Atlantic City which has a gambling monopoly in the state of New Jersey went through a 10 year period of declining gross gaming revenues and saw 5 out of its 12 casinos shutdown.

However, things have been better in 2018 as New Jersey legalized sports betting after the Supreme Court ruled in favour of overturning PASPA 1992. Two new casinos – Hard Rock Atlantic City and Ocean Resorts also opened their doors this year.

The competition in the gaming industry is fierce and Atlantic City knows that it will not be long before New York legalizes sports betting and could even push to legalize online gambling. The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) is not wasting anytime and is moving forward with plans to open new markets for Atlantic City casinos to service new customers.

The CRDA believes that eSports is going to be the next big thing and has invested $700k into eSports events. That money will be spread across the next 18 months to host eSports competitions and promote special eSports tournaments in a bid to make Atlantic City a hotbed of eSports activity. The Atlantic City Convention Center and Jim Whelan Boardwalk have been chosen as sites for these special eSports competitions.

Atlantic City Following Las Vegas Blueprint

Las Vegas took the lead a couple of years ago when the city decided to focus on eSports tournaments. Since then, Las Vegas casinos have invested heavily into building eSports arenas and hosting some of the leading eSports tournaments in the world. The HyperX Esports Arena Las Vegas which is located inside the Luxor Hotel and Casino is one example of Vegas investing into eSports.

Atlantic City has been a little slow in embracing the eSports market but it looks like 2019 will be the year that AC casinos show more attention to the eSports market. Matthew Doherty, who is the executive director of the CRDA is looking to attract the massive eSports fan base into Atlantic City and then get them to check out Atlantic City casinos and offer them the opportunity to play table games and bet on their favourite sporting events as well.

The addition of eSports to the Atlantic City gambling framework is expected to bring in another stream of revenue and boost overall gaming revenues.