A time few could imagine during the glory days of casino gambling has arrived in Atlantic City, where two casinos were due to close over the weekend and another plans to shut down in two weeks.
More than 5,000 workers are to lose their jobs in an unprecedented weekend in the seaside gambling resort, leaving many feeling betrayed by a system that once promised stable, well-paying jobs.
The Showboat was due to close yesterday and the Revel is due to close today and tomorrow. Trump Plaza is set to close on Sept. 16. To the thousands who are going to be left behind, it still seems unreal.
“We never thought this would happen,” said Chris Ireland, who has been a bartender at the Showboat since it opened.
His wife works there as a cocktail server.
What makes it even tougher to swallow is that the Showboat — one of four Atlantic City casinos owned by Caesars Entertainment — is still turning a profit, but the company says it is closing the Showboat to help reduce the total number of casinos in Atlantic City.
Caesars teamed up with Tropicana Entertainment to buy the Atlantic Club in December last year and closed it in January.
“They just want to eliminate competition,” Ireland said. “Everyone’s in favor of a free market until it doesn’t exactly work for them.”
However, many analysts and casino executives say the painful contraction now shrinking Atlantic City’s casino market is exactly what the city needs to survive.
Atlantic City’s casino revenue has fallen from the US$5.2 billion seen in 2006 to the US$2.86 billion recorded last year, and it is set to fall further this year. Atlantic City is going to end the year with eight casinos after beginning the year with 12.
New casinos popping up in an already saturated northeastern US gambling market are not expanding the overall market, but are slicing it into ever-smaller pieces. Fewer casinos could mean better financial performances for the survivors.
Resorts Casino Hotel, which was on the verge of closing a few years ago, completed a remarkable turnaround in the second quarter of this year, swinging from a US$1.3 million loss in the same period last year to a US$1.9 million profit this year.
“I truly believe that eight remaining casinos can all do very well when the gambling market is right-sized,” Resorts president Mark Giannantonio said.
That might be true, but it is little comfort to workers who are losing their jobs. By the time Trump Plaza shuts down in two weeks, nearly 8,000 people — or a quarter of Atlantic City’s casino workforce — are going to be unemployed. A mass unemployment filing due to begin on Wednesday is so large it has been booked into the city’s convention center.
When casino gambling was approved by New Jersey voters in 1976, it was billed as a way to revitalize Atlantic City and provide stable, lasting jobs. The first casino, Resorts, opened in 1978, kicking off nearly three decades of soaring revenue and employment.
However the financial crisis of 2007 to 2009 hit just as new casinos were popping up in the neighboring state of Pennsylvania and New York City, cutting deeply into Atlantic City’s customer base.
“There was a promise when casinos came in here that these would be good, viable jobs, something you could raise your family on and have a decent life with,” said Paul Smith a cook at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort. “I feel so bad for all these people losing their jobs. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”
Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian says his city is remaking itself as a more multifaceted destination, where gambling is only part of the allure. However, he acknowledged the pain this weekend would bring.
“This is going to be a difficult few weeks for many of us in Atlantic City,” he said. “People will lose their jobs and that is never good news. Our hearts go out to our neighbors and friends. We still have difficult waters to navigate.”
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