Casino Winners & Losers: Region by Region

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- For more than three decades there have only really been two viable gaming markets: Las Vegas and Atlantic City.

But if you take a look region by region, that has changed radically within the past few years, as Asian markets like Macau and Singapore, and smaller U.S. jurisdictions like Pennsylvania and New York, have committed to expand gambling.

Casino operators are, in turn, taking advantage of these emerging markets. Over the past year Wynn Resorts(WYNN) and Las Vegas Sands(LVS) both completed initial public offering of their Macau assets, while MGM Mirage(MGM) is currently in the process of conduction its own Macau IPO.

In Pennsylvania, meanwhile, the legalization of table games earlier this year is pushing Sands to construct a 300-room hotel tower next to its Bethlehem casino, a move intended to turn the casino into an overnight destination.

Wynn also announced earlier this month that it plans to move into the Pennsylvania market, entering into a letter of intent with Philadelphia Entertainment and Development Partners. Wynn didn't release the terms of the deal -- which still needs to be approved by Pennsylvania regulators -- but it is expected to sail through. The project, which will be on the waterfront in Philadelphia, has been called Foxwoods Casino Philadelphia.

Over the past year, Delaware and West Virginia also legalized table games in casinos, while Maryland and Ohio have similar bills pending. Then there's Singapore, which opened its first casino in February, and where Sands plans on rolling out a casino at the end of April.

Still, despite this heady regional growth, 2009 was an undeniably rough year across the market. Of the 16 gaming regions tracked by TheStreet, nine all saw declines in revenue. The biggest declines came from Atlantic City, which sank 13% to $3.9 billion; Nevada, which tumbled 10% to $10.39 billion; and Connecticut, which declined 8% to $1.45 billion.

The biggest gainers were Pennsylvania, which spiked 22% to $1.96 billion; Macau, which jumped 10% to $15.1 billion; and New York, which grew by 8% to $1.02 billion. Of course, whether these shifts in the gaming markets prove to be permanent -- or fleeting -- is anybody's bet.

-- Reported by Jeanine Poggi in New York.

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