Atlantic City Casino Market Faces Possible Contraction Due to Looming NY Competition
Credit: Chermel Porter/Unsplash
With the opening of New York City casinos fast approaching, the Atlantic City casino market is bracing for a possible massive impact.
At a recent gaming panel, New Jersey executives estimated the impact could be as large as $700 million per year, with contraction likely to follow. According to George Goldhoff, president of Atlantic City’s Hard Rock casino, the current nine-casino market could shrink down to “three or four at best.“
Only one of New York City’s three casinos will be operational this year. Resorts World NYC was already operating a Class II gaming facility (bingo-based slots) in Queens. It will enjoy a quick transition into a full casino, and it’s expected to become operational in that respect by June.
Hard Rock Metropolitan Park and Bally’s Bronx face much longer timelines. They’ll be built from scratch, so projections target opening dates in 2030.
Goldhoff said that the impact by 2031 could be devastating, especially if retail casino expansion is approved for North Jersey, near the border with New York.
“If New York in 2030-31, in the first 12 months that all three new casinos are open and you allow North Jersey casinos to open, that’s a tsunami on top of an earthquake for Atlantic City,” he said.
While the New York casinos are a reality, the North Jersey properties have not been approved by state voters. They overwhelmingly rejected retail gambling expansion in a 2016 vote. Atlantic City remains the only place in the state with casinos.
Stakeholders Disagree on Economic Impact of NYC Casinos
Kevin Jones, chief strategy officer of Genting Americas, which owns Resorts World NYC, dismissed the impact of the NYC properties on Atlantic City as overblown. He claimed that Resorts World NYC will pull most of its customer base from Queens and nearby Brooklyn.
He suggested that the biggest impact on the Atlantic City properties would come from New Jersey’s own decisions. These will include whether to expand retail casinos to North Jersey and what kind of investments are made in Atlantic City.
The president of Resorts Casino Hotel (an Atlantic City property unaffiliated with Resorts World) said such investment could actually result in a net boost for Atlantic City. He said “concrete plans” to improve the Atlantic City experience are key. Several others at the conference voiced support for similar investments.
The specifics of such investment aren’t completely clear. Many of Atlantic City’s properties are older. Only Borgata (2003), Hard Rock (2018), and Ocean Casino Resort (2018) have opened within the past 30 years. Everything else dates to 1985 or earlier.
The city and state governments could also invest in the beaches and the famed but dated Atlantic City boardwalk.
However, even there, factors outside of Atlantic City’s control loom. According to a report released last year, Atlantic City is experiencing a double environmental whammy. Not only is the sea level rising, but the land is actually sinking at the same time. That puts everything on the seaward edges of the coastal town at risk. Flooding has already reportedly affected many communities, and the issue will only worsen.
Investing in local infrastructure could amount to throwing good money after bad.
Which Casinos Would Survive Atlantic City Market Contraction?
Goldhoff said the economic impact of NYC plus North Jersey casinos could reach $700 million. Another New Jersey gaming executive guessed an impact of $400 to $500 million.
To put that sort of impact in perspective, Atlantic City casinos earned just shy of $2.9 billion in 2025, according to the state’s tracking. That marked a small increase over 2024, when they earned just $2.8 billion.
Online casino and online sportsbooks provided about $4 billion more in gross revenue, but not all of that goes to the casinos.
Of the retail properties, Borgata ($800,522,867), Hard Rock ($550,847,620), and Ocean Casino ($468,098,655) — the three newest casinos — produced by far the most gaming revenue. The fourth-ranked property was Harrah’s at just $225,008,150.
Borgata is owned by MGM, which also co-owns one of the best-performing market-leading brands, BetMGM. Resorts, which has a partnership with DraftKings, and Golden Nugget, which provides access to FanDuel, are the other two casinos bringing in online revenue well clear of the rest of the field. Resorts is the leader in this respect, averaging $84.3 million per month in 2025, according to Gaming America’s data. Golden Nugget was at $73.6 million, while Borgata averaged $64 million.
That leaves Bally’s, Caesars, Harrah’s, and Tropicana as the Atlantic City resorts with neither a dominant position in retail revenue nor online. They’d likely be in the most danger if and when further competition becomes a reality.
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