The casino industry in Atlantic City has witnessed a slow decline during the last decade as revenue from the gambling industry fell from $5.2 billion in 2006 to $2.6 billion in 2016. Four out of the twelve casinos in the city was forced to shutdown during 2014 as they were unable to survive a sluggish market.

However things are turning around for the remaining eight casinos as they reported a collective revenue increase of 8.1 percent during April 2016 when compared to April 2015. The total increase was around $215 million and appears to be that the closing of the four Atlantic City casinos has benefitted the remaining eight casinos.

One of the reasons for a better performance in April 2016 is due to the fact that there were two extra weekend days when compared to same time frame last year. However, the chairman of the New Jersey Casino Control Commission, Matt Levinson, believes that the main reason is due to the fact that the casinos did a better job in their customer acquisition strategy.

In a statement, Levinson said “Part of the increase was the result of a favorable calendar, but part of it is also the result of casinos doing a better job of attracting new customers in a challenging business environment.” The chairman was happy to see the market slowly recovering and said that the results were very ‘heartening’.

The Resorts casino had the highest monthly increase bringing in $13.8 million which is a 14 percent increase. The Golden Nugget brought in a little less than $20 million, which was a 13.3 percent increase while Bally’s made $18.1 million which was a 12.2 percent increase. The Trump Taj Mahal did not do well and had a loss of $14.9 million which was around 4 percent while Harrah’s lost $29 million which was a decline of around 1.1 percent.

Caesars brought in an extra $24.7 million, an increase of 9.7 percent, the Borgata casino brought in the highest revenue with $60 million, an increase of 4.2 percent and the Tropicana made $27.6 million, an increase of 9.5 percent. The online gambling industry has also done well in the garden state with a 34 percent rise when compared to April 2015, bringing in an increase of $16.9 million.

The collapse of the casino market in Atlantic City has brought the city to the brink of bankruptcy and has forced New Jersey lawmakers to push for a takeover of Atlantic City’s financial dealings. The city has so far managed to resist the takeover as they have scraped together the funds required to make their outstanding loan payments. However Atlantic City Mayor has warned that the city does not have sufficient funds to make its next payment in June 2016.