Press of Atlantic City

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Casinos see biggest revenue decline in Atlantic City history

By DONALD WITTKOWSKI Staff Writer, 609-272-7258

Published: Oct 11, 2008

ATLANTIC CITY - This was a September no one wants to remember, as casinos suffered their biggest monthly revenue decline in Atlantic City's 30-year history of gambling.

In a dramatic, post-Labor Day slowdown, revenue plunged
15.1 percent to $356 million for the month. It is fresh evidence the gaming industry continues to be battered by the weak economy, Wall Street's unfolding financial crisis and competition from slot parlors in Pennsylvania.

"It's ugly," said Harvey Perkins, a senior vice president with Spectrum Gaming Group, a Linwood-based casino consulting firm.

Not since storm-ravaged January 1994 - when winter-weary gamblers stayed at home by the droves and revenue dropped 13.6 percent - has business fallen so sharply. More

Oct 11, 2008

• New Jersey Supreme Court to hear Tropicana appeal

ATLANTIC CITY - Keeping the case alive and complicating efforts to sell the casino, the New Jersey Supreme Court has agreed to hear Tropicana Casino and Resort's appeal to regain its license.

Oct 11, 2008

• Smoke to clear in Atlantic City casinos - for one week

ATLANTIC CITY - Want to light up while you gamble? Starting next Wednesday, that won't be allowed anywhere on Atlantic City casino floors.

Oct 10, 2008

• Live high school football updates

Click here for live updates from tonight's high school football games.

Oct 10, 2008

• Casinos see biggest monthly revenue decline in Atlantic City history

2:15 p.m. Update - ATLANTIC CITY -- Casinos reported $356 million in casino win in September, a 15.1-percent decrease over the same month a year ago. It is the largest monthly decline in Atlantic City's 30-year history of casino gambling.

Oct 10, 2008

• N.J. Supreme Court to hear Tropicana appeal

2:25 p.m. Update - ATLANTIC CITY — Keeping the case alive and possibly complicating efforts to sell the casino, the New Jersey Supreme Court has agreed to hear Tropicana Casino and Resort’s appeal to regain its license.

Oct 10, 2008

• Atlantic City to have 7-day smoking ban

10 a.m. Update - ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) - Atlantic City casinos will go smoke-free for seven days before allowing gamblers to light up again.

Oct 10, 2008

• Commission's plan to change Pinelands map offers few specifics

When John Stokes presented plans at last week's Pinelands Municipal Council Meeting to change the Pinelands Land Capability Map - a color-coded chart that divides land in the reserve into one of nine categories - questions immediately arose.

Oct 10, 2008

• Turning on untapped young-voter resource

Brian Coleman has spent the past several weeks making the rounds of all the senior homerooms at Lacey Township High School to hand out voter registration forms.

Oct 10, 2008

• Utley, Burrell HRs in sixth carry Phils to Game 1 NLCS win

PHILADELPHIA - Chase Utley broke out of his postseason slump.

Oct 09, 2008

• Dead sailor's family mourns, wonders why

9:05 p.m. Update -

Oct 09, 2008

• Last cruise was sailor's lifelong dream

9:05 p.m. Update -

Oct 09, 2008

• Plan to change Pinelands map short on specifics

5:30 p.m. Update -

Oct 09, 2008

• Corn maze requires families to be their own navigation aids

Matt Mangold stood alone on a platform overlooking a three-acre cornfield at Butterhof's Shady Brook Farm in Mullica Township. Under the teenage farmhand's watchful eye, scores of children and parents, their heads barely visible over the towering stalks of green corn, attempted to navigate a maze cut through the field.

Oct 09, 2008

• The hard work for job seekers is securing health insurance

Although jobs are harder to come by in a troubled economy, finding a job with decent health insurance benefits still remains a top priority for most people - no matter how long it takes.

Oct 09, 2008

• Glitz vs. Grit: Dodgers-Phillies series creates a clash of coasts

PHILADELPHIA - It's Hollywood glitter vs. East Coast spunk in the National League Championship Series.

Oct 08, 2008

• 'Suspicious' suitcase at Barnegat library holds -- an empty suitcase

11 p.m. Update - BARNEGAT TOWNSHIP - An unattended suitcase at the Barnegat branch of the Ocean County Library caused the evacuation of the library and the closing of neighboring streets until police declared the possible threat a false alarm Wednesday afternoon.

Oct 08, 2008

• Expressway plans special meeting to review proposed toll hikes

3:32 p.m. Update - Atlantic City Expressway operators will hold a special meeting on Friday to again discuss toll hikes planned for the roadway.

Oct 08, 2008

• U.S. considers Egg Harbor Township teacher a star

3:22 p.m. Update - EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP - Lynne Kesselman, a teacher at Egg Harbor Township High School, was honored as New Jersey’s 2008 American Star of Teaching by the U.S. Department of Education Wednesday.

Oct 08, 2008

• Lobbying intense to delay casino smoking ban

Check here tonight for results of council vote / ATLANTIC CITY - Those with the most to lose if a casino smoking ban is enacted this month feverishly phoned council members Tuesday to lobby in support of a bill that would delay the ban for a year.

Oct 08, 2008

• Red-headed woodpecker forces change of plans for Woodbine landfill

WOODBINE - The Cape May County landfill is reworking plans for a 74-acre expansion after a field survey found a red-headed woodpecker nest.

Oct 08, 2008

• Trophy seller catches flak from owner of replica fish

BRIGANTINE - Twenty-six years later and Al McReynolds is still making money - and apparently enemies - over the monster striped bass he caught in Atlantic City's inlet.

Oct 07, 2008

• Jury indicts Hamilton Twp. man in May shooting death at Oakcrest Estates

3:42 p.m. Update - MAYS LANDING - An Atlantic County Grand Jury indicted a Hamilton Township man Tuesday in connection with the shooting death of a man who lived in the defendant’s Oakcrest Estates development, Atlantic County Prosecutor Ted Housel announced.

Oct 07, 2008

• US trying new beach replenishment approach in NJ

3:23 p.m. Update - The Army Corps of Engineers wants swimmers and surfers to be able to get along.

Oct 07, 2008

• Arson blamed for fire that destroyed Cape May's Ponderlodge mansion

2:55 p.m. Update - LOWER TOWNSHIP - Last week’s six-alarm fire that destroyed a building at the former Ponderlodge Golf Club in the Villas has been ruled arson by the state Fire Marshall’s Office.

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