Online Sports Betting to Boost Atlantic City Casinos Revenue

Online sports betting will not only improve revenue for casino operatives. Gaming experts believe it can also contribute to higher rates of visitation to online casinos.

“Sports betting is certainly going to drive extra traffic into the city,” -said Rummy Pandit, the director of the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Hospitality, Gaming and Tourism at Stockton University. “And internet sports betting will not only drive sports betting revenues, it is going to drive revenue to local casinos through rooms, beverage and food, entertainment and also shows.”

Atlantic City Online Sports Betting

Pandit said that sports betting, in general, is more of a social event. Also, he expects that players will want to take part and get the experience that a casino sportsbook offers.

“The way I see the marketplace segment, it is more locally focus, at least originally,” he said. “But convenience is going to be the driver online.”

Not all industry specialists believe that sports betting will be an important money generator or a visiting driver. Public relations consultant and former Atlantic City casino executive, Wayne Schaffel, said that sports betting is “really a non-event” and it represents a small fraction of wagers placed in Vegas.” To the extent that it can bring players to Atlantic City or draw them back more frequently, Schaffel said he does believe that it is unlikely due to the fact that each and every state will have sports betting soon.

“In fact, I can argue that it could be negative because for a city where an average player is still there for less than 48 hours. It does not make sense to have someone for six hours only watching the World Cup, even though they will only pay for a few drinks.

“Sponsors, sign limited deals or they just go out and buy something that will have a domination in Atlantic City,” he said.

Overview

Steve Ruddock, the lead analyst for PlayNJ.com, an online gambling advocacy group, believe that Atlantic City casino learned a lesson from the 2013 rollout of online gaming.