Hurricane Irene Costs Borgata $10M in Lost Revenue

Hurricane Irene blew away $10 million in revenue at the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa.

That's because the casino, like all the others in Atlantic City, had to shut down for three days in late August as the storm bore down on the New Jersey coast.

Boyd Gaming, which owns half the casino, revealed the lost-revenue figures Tuesday on a conference call to discuss third-quarter earnings.

Paul Chakmak, Boyd's chief operating officer, said had it not been for the storm, the Borgata would have shown increases in both revenue and earnings for the third quarter. Instead, the Borgata's net revenues for the third quarter were $202 million, down 2.7 percent from the third quarter 2010. Earnings were down 7.4 percent to $50.3 million, compared with $54.3 million in the comparable period in 2010.

“There are reasons to be optimistic” about the Borgata, said Keith Smith, Boyd's president and CEO.

The casino remains Atlantic City's top performer and accounted for nearly a quarter of all Atlantic City's table games intake during the third quarter. The Borgata captured nearly 20 percent of the entire Atlantic City gambling market, an all-time high for the company.

For the first nine months of this year, the Borgata took in $492.4 million in gambling revenue, tops in the city but still down 1.2 percent from the same period last year. The casino averages about $1.8 million in gambling revenue per day.

Its next closest competitor is Harrah's Resort Atlantic City, located next to it in the Marina District. Harrah's takes in just over $1.2 million a day.

Irene forced the city's 11 casinos to close for three days, causing an estimated $45 million worth of lost business during what would have been one of the busiest weekends of the year.

The Borgata also is in the midst of a $50 million renovation of its hotel rooms. The project should be finished in the first quarter of 2012, company officials said.