Atlantic City officials fear as many as five of the city’s eight remaining casinos could be forced to close if two new integrated resorts proposed for New Jersey are given the green light.
Speaking at the recent East Coast Gaming Congress and iGaming Institute at Harrah’s Waterfront Conference Center, opponents of the New Jersey casinos – including President of Atlantic City’s Resorts Casino Hotel Mark Giannantonio – said the extra competition would be the final nail in the coffin for the financially stricken town.
“Our findings are quite clear – three to five casinos will close,” Giannantonio said, referencing an economic impact study commissioned by Resorts. “The fallout of those three to five casinos will be, potentially, 23,000 job losses. Foreclosures will double, unemployment will double. I can go on with many, many more metrics.” Giannantonio received support from Atlantic City area
Assemblyman Chris Brown, who asked, “We are in an oversaturated market and the way we’re going to help Atlantic City is to build another casino to compete with it?”
But not everyone agrees. The owner of Meadowlands racetrack – one of the possible sites for a New Jersey resort – Jeff Gural said the proposed developments would actually prove the savior under a plan to have the New Jersey casinos send US$200 million a year in taxes Atlantic City’s way.
He also slammed Giannantonio’s economic impact study, stating, “The people that do those studies are the same ones who decided it would be a good idea to open Revel.” The US$2.4 billion Revel Atlantic City was open for less than three years before going bankrupt and closing in 2014.
New Jersey will go to the polls in November to decide whether to allow the new casinos.
While Atlantic City waits anxiously on the outcome of that decision, New Jersey Governer Chris Christie has taken matters into his own hands by finally signing legislation aimed at helping the former gaming hub avoid bankruptcy and implement a recovery plan.
The legislation will see the city receive a loan from the state as well as regular tax payments from casinos amounting to US$120 million in the first year and rising.
However it must work quickly to create a balanced budget for 2017 and a five year recovery plan or risk being taken over by the state should they fail to make the necessary spending cuts.
