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A future for Atlantic City? Don’t bet on it
When the first casino opened in Atlantic City, N.J., in 1978, legalized casino gambling seemed to be a winning deal: It provided jobs, millions in tax revenue, and a wave of tourists.
But as more casinos opened in the area, Resorts Casino Hotel now has to compete with 10 other gambling establishments. The biggest hit came in late 2006 when casinos started opening in the Philadelphia suburbs, taking away senior citizen slot players who had previously bused into Atlantic City.
Now casinos in the area are trying to attract customers by offering $10 concert tickets, more adult entertainment, and free hotel rooms and hundreds of dollars of slot play for those who sign up for a player’s club card.
To bring customers back into its doors, Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort recently hosted a concert featuring the band Three Dog Night with tickets going for only $10. When it was over, thousands of fans hit the slot machines, table games, restaurants, and bars, providing a bump of $100,000 in revenue the casino otherwise would not have earned.
New owners have taken over at the dying Resorts Casino Hotel. Last year, Resorts posted an operating loss of $18.5 million, nearly 41 percent worse than 2009.
The new co-owners, Dennis Gomes and Morris Bailey, rebranded the casino with a roaring ’20s theme, cut payroll, added Atlantic City’s first casino gay bar, and announced plans for a Naked Circus. The casino still loses money, but Gomes says he expects to reach the break-even point soon.
Troubled municipalities across the country have imitated Atlantic City by opening their own casinos. But to generate an economic boost for their cities, casinos must attract money from outside the region. Otherwise, a new casino merely shifts dollars away from existing businesses and entertainment venues, said Thomas Pascarella, professor of economics and management at Hiram College.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
back to top8 Comments to “A future for Atlantic City? Don’t bet on it”
People don’t have money gamble it away, not in New Jersey anyway.
On the positive side, there was an article over the weekend that said our boardwalk is one of the best in the nation.
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Gambling is a recession proof business, however, this doesn’t mean its a good business. Gambling is not beneficial to the community unless it draws people from outside the community. Now that many communitiies allow gambling this isn’t the case.
Finally gov’t approved gambling is a sure sign that gov’t lacks leadership and the testicular foritude to tax.
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Gambling will always cost more in crime and welfare increases than it will pay into government coffers. The pain to individuals and families is much harder to see, unless you are close to the people involved.
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Gambling is not a recession proof business here in Jersey.
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I think places like the Sands and Caesar’s Palace etc could haul them in back in the day with big name top drawer performers.
But Sammy, Frank and Dean are all dead and there’s no one out there of their calibre.
And Connick and Buble? They make enough from going on the road.
I’d love to see Andy Williams but he’s pretty much confined to Branson
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Strange how our society rewards work with little paper and metal tokens, and that we then squander them by handing them over to casinos for the right to sit at a table or work a crank.
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What is a Naked Circus???
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HRW, like excessive taxation, gambling is parasitical. Gambling and taxation are kissing cousins. Gambling is a tax on the stupid and excessive taxation hurts working people. Both are forms of social injustice.
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