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Atlantic City's painful losing streak continues as its casinos reported revenue of $351.3 million in May, a 15.4% drop compared with the same period last year, said the New Jersey Casino Control Commission on Wednesday.

The numbers extend a downward trend for the gambling haven's 11 casinos, which have struggled to remain competitive amid a recession and mass defection of gamblers to newer slot parlors in Pennsylvania and New York. Indeed, a new casino in Bethlehem, Pa., by gaming giant Las Vegas Sands Corp. (LVS) is poised to be a major threat to the island town given that it is less than 100 miles away from New York City.

"Certainly one of the reasons why revenue is down in Atlantic City is the impact of new competition ... the opening of a new facility in Bethlehem will certainly contribute to that," said Daniel Heneghan, a spokesman for the regulator. He said the May numbers were in line with what the casinos reported during the first four months of the year. Atlantic City industry suffered a 24.6% drop in gross operating profits in 2008.

Borgata Hotel and Casino, jointly owned by Boyd Gaming Corp. (BYD) and MGM Mirage (MGM), continued to have the smallest declines as its casino revenue decreased 3% to $62 million in May compared with the same period last year. The biggest decliner last month was the Atlantic City Hilton, which saw revenue drop 29.5% to $17 million.

-By A.D. Pruitt, Dow Jones Newswires, 201-938-2269, angela.pruitt@dowjones.com