It has been a testing few days for Bally’s Atlantic City, with the Boardwalk casino reporting an operating loss of $896,000 for the first six months of the year.
Although that falls within acceptable operating margins, it is a hefty year-on-year decline of 439% after it posted a $264,000 profit in 2024.
The news comes on the back of Bally’s Atlantic City being given 30 days by a federal court to outline, with supporting evidence, why a slots jackpot won in February 2024 and worth $1,277,954.35 has not yet been paid.
What Is The Case against Bally’s Atlantic City?
Bally’s Atlantic City and slot machine manufacturer IGT are the subject of an action brought by plaintiff Roney Beal, 73.
Beal says she was an invited guest of the land-based and online casino giant on February 25, 2024, and hit the $1.2 million jackpot while playing a Wheel of Fortune wide-area progressive slot at Bally’s Atlantic City.
However, after she hit the service button a Bally’s attendant arrived and informed Beal that the machine had malfunctioned and that the prize was void.
Beal sued Bally’s and the slot manufacturer IGT through state court but in July last year it was moved to New Jersey’s federal district court.
In their defence, Bally’s and IGT say that the Wheel of Fortune machine suffered a ‘Reel Tilt’ during the spin in question, a malfunction that occurs when a physical reel displays something different to the intended outcome intended by the slot machine’s internal random number generator.
Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Pascal declared last week that she was granting Bally’s motion to “administratively terminate” the plaintiff’s complaint, but it was not yet a full dismissal.
Bally’s and IGT now have 30 days in which to report back the findings of a New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement investigation.
Bally’s Atlantic City H1 2025 In Detail
Last Friday, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) announced figures for the second quarter of 2025, as well as for the first six months of the year combined.
For Q2 2025 Bally’s actually turned a profit of $2.3 million, though it was a 14.7% year-on-year drop.
Net revenue generated was $49 million, a 7.7% decrease on Q2 2024 which reached $53.1 million.
For the first six months ended June 30, 2025, it was a similar story with net revenue again showing a 7.7% drop in yearly comparisons, with $90.7 million in H1 2025 against $98.2 million.
Bally’s has so far suffered operating losses of $896,000 for the first half of this year.
The DGE report outlines the fact that Bally’s has been attracting fewer guests in 2025 who are paying less for a room.
From January 1 to June 30 this year, guestrooms were occupied 55% of the time, at an average nightly cost of $142 per room.
Last year occupancy ran at 62% with guests paying an average $154 per room.
By comparison, six of Atlantic City’s nine casinos reported net revenues over £100 million in H1 2025.
Borgata topped the list with $385.1 million, a 2.8% rise year-over-year and returned a gross operating profit of $111.3 million, a 4.9% rise.
Hard Rock recorded net revenue of $284.7 million, a slight yearly drop of 1.8%, and a gross operating profit of $60.3 million, while Ocean Casino also performed strongly, with $243.1 million net revenue for H1 2025, a yearly rise of 5.5% and a 23.6% increase in gross operating profit to $49.3 million.
Online casino revenue has also continued to rise.
Indeed the state’s gambling market continued to flourish in July as online casino revenue hit a new high in New Jersey, with iGaming revenue of $247.3 million, a 26.6% year-on-year increase
Jim Munro is a betting industry and gambling expert who has been a national newspaper journalist for over 30 years, predominantly at The Sunday Times and The Sun, where he wrote a weekly soccer betting column. Jim also worked on the launch of Virgin Bet with Gamesys and was subsequently head of editorial at LiveScore, the sports media and betting group.
