Atlantic City entered the year with 12 casinos. By the end of September, it could have eight.
The unraveling of the seaside gaming market that once was America’s second-largest continued over the weekend with the news that Trump Plaza expects to shut down.
Trump Entertainment Resorts told The Associated Press that no final decision has been made on the Boardwalk casino. But the company said it expects to close the doors on 16th September and was planning to notify its 1,000-plus employees on Monday.
A source told AP a search firm was soliciting buyers, an effort that remains ongoing. So far, no buyer has emerged. The company did not indicate what might become of the building after it is closed.
Analysts have long said that Atlantic City, the principal victim of an oversaturated Northeastern US gaming market, needed to lose some casinos to ensure the survival of others. Trump Plaza, the poorest performer of the group, has been for sale for years. It won less than US$73 million from gamblers in 2013, ranking last of the 12 casinos that operated then. So far this year it has taken in nearly $21 million, down almost 27% from the same period last year. A California company was interested in buying it last year for $20 million—about 10% of what it cost to build 30 years ago—but the deal fell through.
Its closure will mean the loss to the market of one-third of its casinos and a quarter of its casino workforce in less than nine months. The Atlantic Club closed in January, the Showboat is closing next month and Revel might do likewise if a buyer can’t be found through federal Bankruptcy Court. The Atlantic Club closure cost 1,600 workers their jobs. An additional 2,100 at Showboat will be unemployed as of 31st August, in addition to the 1,009 Trump Plaza workers. Revel has 3,100 workers who could lose their jobs if the 2-year-old casino resort is not sold.
Meanwhile, the head of Atlantic City’s largest casino workers’ union demanded state lawmakers help head off what he called a “pending catastrophe” that will affect the state’s tourism industry and tax collections.
Bob McDevitt, president of local 54 of Unite-HERE, said 7,000 casino workers—or about one in four—have been warned their jobs could disappear within 60 days.
“While this is a personal tragedy for every family involved, it is also a crisis for the state,” he said. “We expect Trenton to react with more than just sympathetic sound bites; we demand action equal to the magnitude of this pending catastrophe.”
