Cross-border Competition and the Recession Effect on Atlantic City’s Gaming Volumes

Atlantic City casinos were hit by both the 2007-2009 recession and the addition of legalized gaming in Pennsylvania at about the same time. Results of this study show a significant decrease of $422.9 million in monthly slot coin-in for Atlantic City casinos when Parx and Harrah’s, the first two Pennsylvania casinos, opened. When Sands, SugarHouse, and Valley Forge opened in Pennsylvania during the following year, there was no additional significant effect to Atlantic City casinos ’ slot coin-in. Atlantic City casinos also had a significant decrease in table games drop of $34.1 million monthly when table games started in Pennsylvania. The recession had no significant effect on either slots or table games volume once the effect of the new casinos in Pennsylvania was accounted for. To counteract decreased volumes, casino management needs to understand how much gaming volume they are losing to competition and to the recession