The New Jersey gaming market pulled in roughly $3.2 billion in gross gaming revenue in 2024, with brick-and-mortar operations around $2.81 billion. That sounds impressive until one realizes it's flat. In-person gaming dropped 1.1% year-over-year. Operating profits fell 9.2% to $709.1 million across all nine properties. Pennsylvania keeps stealing customers. Online gaming is cannibalizing foot traffic. And half these buildings haven't seen a real renovation since Reagan was president.
But here's what most visitors don't realize: there's a clear hierarchy now. And one property sits so far above the rest that the comparison feels almost unfair.
The Undisputed Champion: Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa
Borgata isn't just the best casino in Atlantic City. It's playing a different game entirely.
Market Dominance by the Numbers
The gap between Borgata and everyone else isn't subtle—it's embarrassing for the competition. In 2024, Borgata and its online affiliates reported combined revenue of $1.36 billion, up 5.1% from the prior year. The brick-and-mortar operations alone captured about 27.6% of the entire Atlantic City market through November 2025. That's more than $230 million ahead of whoever came in second.
Borgata's gross operating profit hit $208.6 million in 2024—more than the bottom four casinos combined. When Hard Rock posted record-breaking results and handed out $10 million in employee bonuses (which, credit where due, was a class move), they still trailed Borgata by roughly $73 million in operating profit.
MGM Resorts runs Borgata, and it shows. The player development team actually knows what they're doing. The revenue management is sophisticated. The talent pipeline draws from MGM's global network. Smaller regional operators can't compete with that infrastructure, no matter how hard they try.
The Poker Room: East Coast Supremacy
For serious poker players asking which Atlantic City casino to visit, there is exactly one option. Borgata's 52-table room—down from 85 before the pandemic, but still triple the size of anyone else—is the only real poker destination on the entire East Coast outside of certain Florida cardrooms.
Poker players will travel for good games. But good games require enough players to create action. Borgata achieves that critical mass every single day. Cash games run around the clock from $1/$3 no-limit through $10/$25 and higher. On weekends and during tournament series, $25/$50 and even $50/$100 games appear. PLO runs at $2/$2 and $5/$5 with reliable action. Mixed games and stud show up during peak periods.
The tournament schedule is stacked: World Poker Tour annual stop with $3 million guaranteed in the championship, plus the Borgata Poker Open, Winter Poker Open, and Spring Poker Open scattered throughout the year.
Harrah's has 28 tables. Tropicana keeps 18. Neither runs tournaments. Both struggle to spread anything beyond low-stakes hold'em. The difference is stark—waiting for a game to start at other rooms while Borgata has a waitlist twenty names deep is not uncommon. It's not close.
One quirk that serious players should know: New Jersey law prohibits casinos from banning skilled players for advantage techniques like card counting. Unlike Vegas, they can't just back players off for being good. Casinos protect themselves through other means—more decks, deeper cuts, continuous shufflers—but the regulatory framework technically makes Atlantic City's blackjack more exploitable than Nevada's. Practical conditions have tightened considerably, but the legal protection still matters.
Blackjack: The Mathematical Reality
Atlantic City earned its blackjack reputation decades ago when casinos offered liberal rules to compete with Nevada. The classic "Atlantic City rules"—dealer stands on soft 17, double down on any two cards, double after split, late surrender, resplit aces—create a baseline house edge around 0.36% with perfect play.
But 2025 reality is messier than the textbooks suggest.
At Borgata, the $10 minimum tables deal 8-deck shoes with dealer hitting soft 17 and surrender available. That pushes the house edge to roughly 0.58%. Step up to the $25 minimums and the tables offer 6-deck shoes, dealer standing on soft 17, surrender—about 0.36% edge. The $100 high-limit tables offer the same rules with better penetration, shaving off another basis point or two.
That jump from $10 to $25 minimum saves about 0.22% in house edge. Doesn't sound like much until the math is done: wagering $25 per hand for 80 hands an hour saves roughly $4.40 hourly in expected loss by playing the better rules. Over a weekend, it compounds. Budget players stuck at the $10 tables face materially worse odds than anyone who can afford the $25 game.
The Asian Gaming Pivot
Borgata's 2024-2025 renovation reveals where the smart money sees growth: Asian high-limit gaming.
The redesigned Asian gaming area has five private suites that can switch between mini-baccarat, pai gow, blackjack, and roulette depending on player demand. The carpet has Chinese dragon motifs and fan patterns. Noodles, imported from Bellagio Las Vegas, occupies twice the footprint of whatever Asian restaurant was there before.
This isn't decorating for decoration's sake. Management says the Asian gaming segment represents at least 10% of their customer base and has driven an estimated $100 million in annual revenue increases across Atlantic City in recent years. The New York-Philadelphia corridor has substantial Asian-American populations with cultural affinity for baccarat and pai gow. Borgata is positioning to capture that demand. Hard Rock and Ocean are scrambling to catch up.
Hotel and Amenities: The Complete Package
The 2,727 rooms across the main tower and Water Club represent the highest concentration of quality hotel inventory in Atlantic City. The $55 million Water Club renovation finished in 2024, and it's competitive with mid-tier Vegas Strip resorts now. That might not sound like high praise, but in a market where some competitors still operate rooms unchanged since the 1980s, it's a significant achievement.
The celebrity chef concentration—Bobby Flay, Wolfgang Puck, Michael Symon—remains unmatched locally. The buffet consistently wins "best in Atlantic City" recognition, though the value proposition has diminished as prices have climbed industry-wide. (Welcome to post-pandemic dining everywhere.)
Borgata's real advantage is that trade-offs aren't necessary. Every other Atlantic City casino forces a choice: good gaming OR good hotel OR good dining. Borgata delivers all of it in one integrated package. For anyone wanting a complete destination resort experience, nothing else comes close.
Hard Rock: The One That Actually Pulled It Off
When Hard Rock bought the Taj Mahal corpse, optimism was limited. That building had bankruptcy energy baked into the walls. But the skeptics were wrong.
What happened with Hard Rock is the kind of turnaround story that deserves more attention than it gets. In 2019, they held 12% market share with $324 million in gross gaming revenue. By 2024: 19.5% share, north of $510 million in GGR, and that $10 million employee bonus in February 2025 wasn't charity—it reflected actual profit growth. Hotel occupancy hit 86.7%, up from around 75%. Those are real numbers.
The growth came mostly from cannibalizing weaker properties—Tropicana, Harrah's, Bally's, Golden Nugget—rather than stealing from Borgata directly. Smart positioning.
The entertainment investment is where Hard Rock diverges from everyone else. The 5,000-seat Etess Arena books touring acts that skip other Atlantic City venues entirely, and the roughly $30 million annual entertainment budget actually converts to room nights. Management figured out something important in 2024: the 1,300-seat Sound Waves theater wasn't generating enough hotel bookings to justify mid-tier headliners. So they shifted resources to arena shows. That kind of ROI discipline is rare in this market.
A conversation with a pit boss there last fall revealed their high-roller strategy, including mention of the helicopter. Hard Rock bought an actual helicopter in March 2024 to shuttle VIPs. A 45-minute flight radius covers New York, Philly, Connecticut—the entire Northeast money corridor. That capital commitment indicates serious intent to compete for whale action. The new high-limit slot room that opened late 2023 apparently drove most of their 2024 upside.
The brand thing matters too. Hard Rock's rock memorabilia, the "Love All, Serve All" messaging, the 88,000-item collection displayed throughout—it creates an identity that legacy Atlantic City casinos can't fake no matter how much they renovate. Whether someone personally cares about music culture is irrelevant. Plenty of people do, and they'll pick Hard Rock over a generic Caesars property every time.
Ocean Casino Resort
Ocean is the one that confuses people. Newest building, best architecture, arguably the nicest rooms—and yet it sits third in market share behind older properties. The Revel history explains most of it.
Quick version: Revel was a $2.4 billion disaster that opened in 2012, went bankrupt twice in two years, and closed. The problems were almost comically self-inflicted. No smoking policy that alienated core gaming customers. Confusing casino floor layout where people literally couldn't find their way out. Restaurant pricing calibrated for Vegas tourists who weren't coming. The current owners—Luxor Capital and Ilitch Holdings—bought it for around $200 million, which is less than 10% of construction cost. They reopened as Ocean in 2018 and fixed everything Revel got wrong. Smoking came back. Prices got realistic. They spent $270 million over seven years finishing spaces Revel had left incomplete.
The physical product is legitimately impressive. Forty-four floors of glass tower, every room with floor-to-ceiling ocean views. No competitor can match that because no competitor was built this century. The 2025 renovation completing all 1,860 guest rooms positions Ocean's hotel product above anything in the market except maybe Borgata's Water Club. Casino Player Magazine gave them "Best Hotel Rooms" in Atlantic City, and that's accurate.
Gaming-wise, there's 135,000 square feet with around 1,750 slots and 125 table games. The Cove high-limit slot area has 140+ machines across 7,450 square feet. The Loft on the 44th floor has high-limit tables with those floor-to-ceiling ocean views. The slot mix includes some exclusive titles unavailable elsewhere in AC, which matters for slot players bored seeing the same games everywhere.
Ocean Rewards gets industry recognition for generosity—the same-day free play feature lets players earn and use comp credits immediately rather than banking them for future visits. That structure favors occasional visitors over regulars, which is either good or bad depending on which category applies.
The problems are mostly geographic. Ocean sits at the northern end of the Boardwalk, removed from the central cluster around Caesars and Tropicana. Casino-hopping requires actual effort. And there's no poker room whatsoever, which eliminates Ocean from consideration for anyone with poker interest.
The Network Play: Caesars Entertainment Properties
Caesars runs three Atlantic City casinos—Caesars Atlantic City, Harrah's Resort, and Bally's Atlantic City—under the unified Caesars Rewards program. This network creates value propositions the standalone properties can't match.
Caesars Rewards Network Value
Caesars Rewards covers 60+ casino properties across 16 states, including Vegas flagships like Caesars Palace, Paris, Flamingo, and Harrah's. Tier credits and reward credits earned in Atlantic City translate directly to benefits across the entire network.
For someone who visits both Atlantic City and Las Vegas—or travels to Caesars properties in other markets—the network math gets compelling. Diamond status (15,000 tier credits annually) eliminates resort fees across all Caesars properties. Status earned in Atlantic City unlocks room comp availability in Vegas. Tier qualification can be satisfied by consolidated play across multiple properties.
No other Atlantic City operator offers comparable scope. Borgata's MGM Rewards includes Vegas properties like Bellagio, MGM Grand, and Aria, but fewer total locations. Hard Rock's Unity program includes global cafes and hotels but fewer US casino options. Ocean, Tropicana, Resorts, and Golden Nugget operate essentially as standalones with limited or no network benefits.
Property-Specific Considerations
Caesars Atlantic City has prime Boardwalk real estate with Roman-themed opulence that's dated but retains nostalgic appeal for a certain crowd. Operating profit grew 10.7% in 2024—one of only two Atlantic City casinos with year-over-year profit gains—suggesting operational improvements underway. High-limit blackjack at $100 minimum offers 6-deck S17 conditions competitive with Borgata.
Harrah's Resort in the Marina District has a 28-table poker room, second-largest after Borgata. Cash games only, no tournaments. For players wanting low-stakes hold'em without Borgata's sometimes-intimidating action, Harrah's works. The indoor pool complex is genuinely excellent and justifies winter visits on its own merits.
Bally's has struggled badly—operating profit dropped 77% in 2024. But the Wild Wild West attached casino offers legitimately low table minimums that budget players appreciate. For entry into the Caesars Rewards ecosystem at lower bankroll thresholds, Bally's serves that function.
The Economics of Casino Selection
Marketing narratives are useless. Economics matter. Several frameworks help:
House Edge Stratification
Atlantic City table games show significant house edge variation based on minimum bets. At the $10 blackjack tables with 8-deck H17, players face roughly 0.58% edge. Step up to $25 minimums with 6-deck S17 and that drops to 0.36%. The $100 high-limit tables with optimal penetration get to 0.35%. Standard craps with 3-4-5x odds runs about 0.37%. Banker bets at baccarat carry 1.06% with standard commission. Double-zero roulette takes 5.26%—avoid it unless the purpose is purely entertainment value.
That 22 basis point improvement from $10 to $25 blackjack adds up fast. A player logging 1,000 hands at $25 average ($25,000 total wagered) saves approximately $55 in expected loss by playing S17 versus H17 conditions. Annualized across regular visits, optimal game selection saves hundreds or thousands.
Comp Rate Economics
Casinos typically award slot comp credits around $1 per $5 wagered, roughly 20 basis points of theoretical hold. Table games earn substantially less—often 10-30% of equivalent slot play—because table games carry lower house edges.
The upshot is that slot players actually get more comp value relative to their expected losses than table players do, even though the absolute amounts favor higher-action play. A blackjack player facing 0.36% house edge might earn comps implying 0.1% return, capturing roughly 28% of expected loss back. A slot player facing 8% house edge earning comps at 0.2% rate captures only 2.5%—but the absolute comp amounts are larger because slot expected loss is larger. It's counterintuitive until the math is worked through.
Promotional Allowance Distribution
New Jersey Gaming Division Enforcement data shows which casinos distribute the most in promotional allowances. Through Q1-Q3 2024, Borgata led, followed by Hard Rock, then Ocean. But those three also lead in gaming revenue, so per-recipient rates require looking at player volume. Ocean has earned industry recognition for comp generosity specifically because its promotional allowance per customer exceeds market norms.
Where Should Visitors Actually Go?
A neat matrix matching visitor types to properties would be convenient, but real decisions are messier than that.
For poker players, this entire conversation is academic. Borgata or don't bother. The gap between Borgata's room and Harrah's 28 tables is bigger than the gap between Borgata and competitors in any other category. Waiting hours at Harrah's for a $1/$2 game to fill while Borgata's waitlist hits 30 names is a real phenomenon. Never again.
Borgata also wins for anyone who self-identifies as a "gambler" rather than a "casino visitor"—best high-limit blackjack rules, most sophisticated player development, deepest table game inventory. Those calculating expected value and optimal strategy probably already know this.
Hard Rock makes sense for those building a trip around a concert, or if the rock-and-roll energy appeals more than Borgata's Vegas-corporate vibe. The entertainment calendar is legitimately better. People who stay at Borgata but spend their evenings at Hard Rock shows represent a real demographic.
Ocean is harder to recommend with enthusiasm, but it suits those who care primarily about the hotel room and treat gambling as incidental. Those floor-to-ceiling ocean views are real. The Revel architects knew what they were doing even if Revel management didn't. For visitors treating Atlantic City as a beach weekend that happens to include some slot play, Ocean delivers the nicest physical environment.
The Caesars network play only matters for those already in that ecosystem or planning to be. Nobody should pick Caesars Atlantic City over Borgata on standalone merit. But for those grinding toward Diamond status who visit Vegas twice a year, earning tier credits in AC makes strategic sense. Same logic applies to MGM Rewards and Borgata—the network math can justify otherwise suboptimal individual property choices.
And Bally's? Almost not worth including. But the Wild Wild West section has $10 and sometimes $5 table minimums when everywhere else has gone to $25. For table game play on a limited bankroll, that's where to go. Just don't expect anything else to meet high standards.