Business Notes

How's business at America's casinos? It all depends on where you look. In the nation's oldest gaming market, Las Vegas, winnings rose 14% last year and profits were up 25%, to $648 million. But in Atlantic City, where gambling has been legal since 1976, business has been a crapshoot at best. The city's dozen boardwalk casinos last week reported combined losses of $266 million for 1990, the first annual losses in a decade. One of the biggest losers: Donald Trump, whose Plaza, Castle and Taj Mahal gaming houses lost $174 million.

Analysts blame the slow economy for only a part of Atlantic City's dismal showing. Unlike Las Vegas, the New Jersey coastal town has no major airport or convention center and is not open 24 hours a day. Concludes gaming analyst David Leibowitz, with restraint: "Atlantic City can't outglitz Las Vegas."