The building of three casinos in neighbouring New York City is posing an existential threat to Atlantic City, the East Coast’s gambling powerhouse, raising concerns that the once vibrant seaside town would find it difficult to survive.
Atlantic City was booming and known as “America’s Playground” around the turn of the 20th century.However, in an effort to revitalise itself after decades of stagnation, the city legalised gambling in 1977.
The tactic was effective for a while. Known as the “Vegas of the East Coast,” Atlantic City started to recover in the 1990s, but when nearby jurisdictions legalised gambling and started constructing their own casinos, the monopoly that drove its expansion gradually vanished.
Then came internet gambling, and now that Bally’s Bronx and Hard Rock Metropolitan Park are anticipated to open by the end of the decade, and Resorts World NYC, which is only a two-hour drive away, opened live gaming tables last month, some are calling it quits on America’s Playground.
The head of the Atlantic County Democratic Committee, Michael Suleiman, told the Daily Mail, “This should be a wake-up call that we finally need to get our act together about Atlantic City.”
“We kind of messed up our decades-long monopoly on casino gaming.
According to state senators from New Jersey and other local leaders, inhabitants of northern New Jersey who live just across the Hudson River will also avoid Atlantic City in favour of the casinos in their own neighbourhood.
“Those gambling dollars that we see in North and Central Jersey are going to cross state lines the second these casinos open,” State Senator Vin Gopal told Politico. “We have a gun to our heads.”
Many refer to Atlantic City as “America’s Playground” or “Vegas of the East Coast.” An aerial photograph of the steel pier and walkway
At the inauguration of live table games at the casino at Resorts World New York City on April 28, billionaire businessman Lim Kok Thay, center left, celebrates alongside musician Nas, center right, during a ceremonial roll at a gaming table.
Last month, a casino floor at Resorts World New York City opened, and showgirls dressed in feathered costumes posed for pictures.
The nine casinos along Atlantic City’s boardwalk combined brought in more than $215 million in taxes for New Jersey last year.
After all three of New York City’s casinos operate, the state of New York is expected to receive an average of $700 million in tax income annually.
Politicians in New Jersey see that staggering revenue stream as a diversion of vital business from America’s Playground to the wealthiest metropolis in the country.
State Senators Gopal and Paul Sarlo have co-sponsored a bill that would let table games and slots to be added at northern New Jersey’s Monmouth Park and Meadowlands Racetracks, which now permit horse racing and sports betting, in an attempt to lessen the impact of NYC’s flashy new casinos.
By providing gamblers in northern Jersey with options that are closer to home than New York City, the law, known as Senate Concurrent Resolution 66, aims to retain casino tax income within the state.
However, there has been resistance to the plan from within the state.Stakeholders in Atlantic City and Southern New Jersey are worried that it will hurt the seaside town much more than the casinos in New York City might and increase competition for Atlantic City.
The Greater Atlantic City Chamber of Commerce claims that if Atlantic City faces the combined competition of New York and northern Jersey casinos, “in-person gaming revenue could drop by 20–30 percent, potentially triggering the closure of at least two casinos and resulting in significant job losses.”
The chairman of the Atlantic County Democratic Committee, Suleiman, thinks the threat posed by New York City casinos to tax income in Atlantic City and New Jersey is real but exaggerated.
Ocean Casino Resort, which debuted in June 2018, is one of Atlantic City’s most recent resorts.
At more than 5.5 miles, the Atlantic City Boardwalk, which opened in 1870, is widely regarded as the oldest and longest boardwalk in the world. Will New York casinos negatively impact Atlantic City’s finances? Undoubtedly, the more competition you face, the more painful it will be, according to Suleiman.But are we unable to endure it? No, I believe we can definitely make it through.
However, that amount of competition would result in “all out devastation” if two more casinos were constructed in northern Jersey, Barbara DeMarco, chairperson of the Greater Atlantic City Chamber of Commerce, told the Daily Mail. “It’s really frightening.”
Meadowlands Racecourse is 30 to 60 minutes away from New York City’s casinos “on a good day,” while Monmouth Park is a little over an hour away, “which ironically is the same distance… to Atlantic City,” according to Suleiman.
DeMarco and Suleiman both questioned the notion that people from northern New Jersey would rather use a highway and drive down to Atlantic City than sit in traffic and pay hefty tolls to visit casinos in New York City.
Gopal is a “great senator” and a “good friend,” according to Suleiman, but the politician’s “gun to our heads” claim is “a little hyperbole” and lacks supporting evidence.
The organization spearheading the opposition to Senate Concurrent Resolution 66 is South Jersey Forward, a nonprofit Suleiman created that promotes legislation to further the interests of southern New Jersey.
We’ve travelled this path before. For many years following Las Vegas, Atlantic City was the sole arbitrator of gambling until Pennsylvania opened casinos in 2006, Suleiman told the Daily Mail.
According to DeMarco, Atlantic County had the greatest incidence of unemployment and foreclosures in the nation once Pennsylvania established casinos, and half of Atlantic City’s gaming revenue vanished.
On the boardwalk in 1938. The final judging for Miss America is announced on a billboard.
The city is well-known for holding the Miss America pageant. A file photo from the 2017 competition is shown.
At the height of Atlantic City’s fame, President Donald Trump owned three significant casinos: Trump Plaza, Trump Taj Mahal, and Trump Castle/Marina. The Taj Mahal fell bankrupt in 2021, the Trump Plaza was demolished, and the castle/marina was sold and renamed the Golden Nugget. He is shown at the Taj Mahal.
Trump Plaza, Trump Taj Mahal, and Trump Castle/Marina were the three casinos that President Donald Trump controlled in the city during its peak of popularity. The city is renowned for holding the Miss America pageant.
The South Jersey legislative delegation, the Southern New Jersey Development Council, the Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey, Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small, and the city council are likewise opposed to the introduction of casinos in northern New Jersey.
The coalition feels that permitting casinos at the Meadowlands and Monmouth Park racetracks is a foolish attempt to maintain taxes in the state without considering the effects on Atlantic City and the surrounding area.
Suleiman told the Daily Mail, “I simply disagree with the notion that we need to economically destroy one part of the state to help another part of the state.” “We ought to ensure the success of the entire state.”
DeMarco broke down in tears as she talked of the “devastation” Atlantic City will face from the combined competition of casinos in northern New Jersey and New York City.
She talked about how, as a young child growing up in the southern region of the state, she witnessed thriving blue-collar industries go and how the casino sector completely replaced them.
“Thinking about all those families whose lives will change as they did 15 years ago is difficult,” she remarked, alluding to the chaos Atlantic City experienced following the opening of casinos in Pennsylvania. “Those jobs simply cannot be filled by any other industry.”
DeMarco further stressed that the effects would be felt throughout the entire area. “It’s not just Atlantic City,” she stated. It extends as far south as Cape May. It extends as far west as Camden.
At the Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, a player smokes while operating a slot machine.Speaking about the development of gambling in New York, State Senator Vin Gopal (pictured) remarked, “We’ve got a gun to our heads.”
“This should be a wake up call that we finally need to get our act together about Atlantic City,” stated Michael Suleiman, chairman of the Atlantic County Democratic Committee, to the Daily Mail. “Stretching as far north… as Burlington and Ocean.” The entirety of South Jersey is included in the casino sector.
The fact that the people of southern New Jersey categorically opposed the development of casinos outside of Atlantic City in a 2016 referendum that was defeated by 77% of voters partially allays the concerns of those involved.
Since the state legislature has until August 3 to get the proposition on the November ballot, it seems unlikely that Northern Jersey casinos would be legalised in the coming years.
Before being adopted by voters in a second statewide referendum, the proposal, which is a constitutional amendment, would need to pass both chambers of the legislature by a three-fifths vote or a simple majority in two consecutive years.
In the meanwhile, Suleiman stated that if Atlantic City hopes to continue being a well-liked tourist destination, it must diversify its economy, enhance living conditions for locals, and combat crime.
DeMarco reiterated those ideas and underlined the importance of funding infrastructure.
“We should keep Atlantic City’s gaming economy strong as it can be, and obviously preventing North Jersey casinos is a good first step of that,” Suleiman told the Daily Mail. “The solution is, invest in what you have right now, get it up to where it can compete with something shiny and new, and perhaps then, consider this (north Jersey casinos),” she said.
However, how can we attract individuals to live, work, and retire in Atlantic City? I believe we need to do more than simply state that it’s a gaming destination. “I believe it must be a thriving city with casinos,” he continued.
