In Showtime's epic series Game of Thrones, characters will occasionally say, "Winter is coming" or "Remember that winter is coming."

Seems everyone in that world of warfare and things that (both human and non-human) go bump in the night are not too thrilled with the fact that winter is coming. These winters are long, perhaps decades long, and they are destructive and have been known to snuff out whole kingdoms.

There is one kingdom by sea that is also aware that "winter is coming" and, of course, that is Atlantic City.

As I wrote a few issues ago: "The economic hammering has been so bloody that such casinos as ACH, Trump Plaza, Claridge, Showboat and Revel have shuttered their doors. They are now the skeletons of the seashore."

At first these closing were looked at as the saviors of the remaining casinos but this assumption has been both true and not true. Think of Schrödinger's cat in its possibly poisoned box - we don't know if it is alive or dead; in fact, it is both alive and dead until we open the box.

The same holds true for the casinos. Some seem to be quite alive and some seem to be on life-support.

In the last 10 years, Atlantic City's fortunes have declined by more than 50 percent (give or take) and while 2015 saw an increase in revenue for the remaining casinos en masse, some look to be in big trouble.

Just this past August revenue was down five percent from August of 2014. And that August was no great shakes compared to the Augusts of the glory days. Revenue for this year is down 10 percent - meaning 10 percent less than last year which was a crippler that saw five casinos close their doors.

Caesars posted the steepest decline of 28.6 percent with Taj Mahal coming in a miserable second with a decline of 24.2 percent. These two casinos have been shaky for a long time now and are considered the favorites to close their doors because "winter is coming."

Golden Nugget has continued to see startling takes, coming in with a 27.8 percent increase. While the blackjack games are only so-so outside of the high-roller room, the Nugget's atmosphere and hosts and most dealers are top notch and that is why I highly recommend this casino for gamblers.

If the 2016 winter is brutal, with snow and rain and sleet and monstrously cold weather that keeps the elderly bus people away then we might expect to see Taj and Caesars fold their tents sometime during the year.

This winter might hold the fate of those two casinos in its maw - a maw that casino honchos hope won't last all winter. I guess the casinos wish for more thaws than maws. (Okay, that was an awful - mawful? thawful? - sentence.)

This is a pivotal winter. A huge El Nino is gearing up for a rampage across the United States, Canada and, in fact, the whole world. So what about the "winter is coming" blues for the Northeast United States this year? Here is a paraphrase of the Weather.com forecast: The East Coast, from the Southeast into portions of the Mid-Atlantic and into southern New England, may also see a wetter than average winter. However, the winter should be significantly warmer than usual.

I am guessing that this year's "winter is coming" might not be so bad - but I'm not a weatherman. Atlantic City casinos can only hope and pray, just as their gamblers do, that winter is not coming.

Hi Frank

I thought you could use this info for your AC Blackjack report that you write for Henry Tamburin.

I was in Borgata last week. They replaced two craps tables (near the bar) with BJ tables. The games are hand shuffled. This is because the tables are only used at the busiest times so they are generally idle. 

The auto shufflers are leased and it would not be cost effective to pay for them all week if they were only going to use the table on the weekend.

Alas the game is not great, 8 decks, average penetration, Dealer hits soft 17.

I hope all is well with you,

Scan

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Frank, Frank, Frank;

Atlantic City is now more than ever a machine world. More and more electronic roulette, craps and blackjack games are being seen and I know the dealers are worried about their jobs. The dealers' union at Taj is still fighting even though that casino is often a ghost town mid-week.

And all those slot machines with crummy payouts? I tell my wife to just take a walk on the Boardwalk and forget playing the slots but slot players just love those machines even though they are still tighter than all get out.

I don't know if any more casinos will close but except for the Marina district I don't think things are looking up.

Kevin the Card

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The best games in terms of penetration, number of decks and rules are invariably found in the high roller rooms.

Players can double on any first two cards; they can split two or three times (make sure you ask about this or read the signs on the table); aces can only be split once and each ace receives one card (the standard rule all across the country). You can usually play up to three hands but most of the casinos will let you play all the spots if you make arrangements beforehand - obviously the casino is looking for high roller action in such a case. Check out the new wording on many of the layouts - amazingly wordy and almost totally BS as opposed to BJ.