Gambling In Atlantic City New Jersey
Located on the east coast, Atlantic City is the main gambling destination for the region. It has a rich history and has many attractions available for tourists other than the casinos.
Atlantic City’s casino scene is now fully functional once again, at least by New Jersey standards. All nine casinos are back in business following the successful relaunch of the city’s last. Borgata strives to present guests with the best hotel and casino experience in Atlantic City, NJ. The Water Club at Borgata offers a unique personality all its own, while just steps away from the entertainment, nightlife, and dining of Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa. Resorts Casino Hotel. Atlantic City's economic decline, and the mounting struggles its casino industry has faced in recent years are unfortunately clearer at Resorts than anywhere else in town.
Caesars Atlantic City Hotel and Casino is the routinely spectacular spot on the famed Atlantic City Boardwalk. Atlantic City, NJ 08401. Tel: (609) 348-4411. Resorts Casino Hotel is a luxury ocean view hotel and casino offering the best in gaming, dining and entertainment on the Atlantic City NJ boardwalk. Learn more about our safety guidelines.
The first casino opened in 1978, so Atlantic City doesn’t have a long gambling history like Las Vegas and Reno. Atlantic City had a hard time getting the approval it needed to become a gambling city.
It wasn’t until the fourth time it appeared on the ballot that legalized gambling passed. The city was in dire need by this time. It had been losing jobs and revenue since 1945. The city was once known as the Queen of Resorts. It had become desolate and without some changes it may not have survived this decline.
So the government started trying to come up with a bill that the people would agree upon. It took four attempts to get one the majority of the citizens agreed to. Even then the bill only passed by a slim margin. The government knew that it wasn’t going to be as huge a success as they thought it would be. They had to prove legalized gambling could revive declining population and job markets.
Once a bill legalizing private casino ownership made the ballot it passed. After four years the bill passed by a slim margin in 1976. Eighteen months later the first resort and casino opened on the boardwalk.
Resorts International
Before the bill passed Resorts Company began preparing. They wanted to be the first to have an operating casino in Atlantic City. The state set standards for hotels and casinos that they must have at least 500 rooms. The rooms each had to be at least 325 square foot also.
Resorts International bought the Chalfonte-Haddon Hall hotel for 2.5 million. The hotel was the largest on the boardwalk and came with 1,000 guest rooms. This made it a perfect investment for the company.
The company was able to use the hotel and redesign it to include 566 guest rooms, a casino, restaurants, and shops. Within a year the new resort was ready to go and opened to the public on May 26th 1976.
Since it was the first resort to open with a legal casino it was a huge hit and stocks soared. Its head start gave the resort a comfortable lead but when others started to open its popularity began to wane. The choice to not go for a complete renovation was becoming an issue for the resort. With the newer flashier casinos opening they were more popular with the people.
So they decided to start on a newer more flashy resort of their own and they called it the Taj Mahal. Construction started in 1983, but due to money problems Resorts had to sell their stock. Donald Trump jumped in and bought a controlling majority of the stocks. He also offered to buy the remaining stock that same year.
Merv Griffin then decided he wanted to be the new leader of Resorts International. These two very powerful men competed but did come to an agreement. Griffin received Resorts International save for the Taj Mahal, which Trump received.
This change in ownership was a great thing for the company. In the years to come Resorts would sell off their assets in the Bahamas and focus completely on the US resorts. Griffin spent an astronomical $90 million to renovate the property. The company and casinos have recently started showing profits.
Caesars
In 1977 the board of directors of Caesars wanted to build in Atlantic City. To make this new venture a reality they had to first be able to start operating outside of Nevada.
Nevada passed a bill allowing casino owners to invest in gambling outside of Nevada. Soon after, Caesars went to Atlantic City.
For two days they met with state and county officials to come up with an agreement. They came to an agreement and Caesars purchased the Howard Johnson’s Regency Motor Hotel. This hotel didn’t meet the requirements put forth by the city so they had to do some renovating.
The gaming commission allowed Caesars to remodel the hotel. The hotel was almost new. This allowed Caesars to avoid new construction. This was a huge help to Caesars and it saved them time and money. They added 123 rooms to the existing 425 the original hotel had. These rooms and a 52,000 square foot casino were part of the new five story tower added to the hotel.
With the hotel and casino completed Caesars started experiencing problems with its license. Atlantic City didn’t like Clifford Perlman at the helm. So to get the temporary license Clifford gave up most of his New Jersey activities. This license allowed the hotel and casino to open and start making money for the company.
The Caesars Boardwalk Regency opened for operation on June 26, 1979. It put an end to the monopoly that the International had been enjoying. But, this wasn’t to be the end of problems for the casino and its owners. The hearing for the permanent license started in 1980. Everything started to fall apart for the Pearlman brothers.
The Pearlman brothers had a reputation that included some ties to the mob. They also had some bad real estate deals that didn’t sit well with the DGE in Atlantic City. The hearings went on for six weeks. After hearing testimony the DGE deemed the four directors unsuitable for licensing. One week later the final ruling came down with some requirements attached.
The Boardwalk Regency could operate with a permanent license. But the Pearlman’s were to put on immediate leave. They also must not receive any income from the company. So they agreed to a one month leave while they appealed this decision with the courts. The courts upheld the original decision but the Pearlman’s weren’t done fighting. It took until December of 1981 for them to come to an agreement.
The agreement included a buy back of all stocks to the company. It also included a place for Clifford Pearlman as CEO. The buy back passed but the commission didn’t approve the CEO clause. This ousted the Pearlman’s from Atlantic City. In 1987 the name changed to Caesar’s Atlantic City and it would all get bought out by ITT Sheraton.
Bally’s
Bally’s was the next to want in on the new gambling industry in Atlantic City. In 1977 they bought the Marlborough-Blenheim hotel. They leveled it to make room for the Bally Park Place. This new casino brought many jobs to the area for construction workers. Hoards of them were working all hours of the day to speed up completion of the hotel.
Bally’s had promised the public and its board that this hotel would be the best on the boardwalk. To make this a reality they also purchased the Dennis hotel to help get them to the 500 guest room rule. Against the state mandate Bally’s remodeled the hotel. They did this instead of starting from scratch like they wanted.
The Dennis hotel remodel cost them a total of 11 million dollars. This amount included the buy of the hotel and the complete remodel. The remodel gave Bally’s 507 guest rooms. The commission approved when they inspected the hotel. Even though it had undergone a remodel and not a complete rebuild.
The hotel was ready for business in December of 1979. They were looking to get the temporary license needed to open its doors. For this to happen, the top leaders had to walk away. William O’Donnell was to sever all ties with the business as was Alex Wilms and his family.
To get its temporary license the business was under investigation by the DGE in Atlantic City. The investigation would go on for two and half years before the DGE would come up with a decisions. During this time the company replaced William O’Donnell. It also began to change its image by contributing to charitable organizations. Finally on December 30, 1979 the Park Place was finally open for operation.
The resorts permanent license decision wouldn’t come for another year. When it came down it had specifications that removed William O’Donnell from the board. This forced him to sell his stocks back to the company. Once this happened, Bally’s received their permanent license.
They designed the hotel to make it easier when it was time to expand to add to the hotel. Since its initial opening the hotel has added over 800 rooms. This makes it the first hotel to have over 1,000 rooms in Atlantic City.
The Brighton
The third casino to open in Atlantic City was the The Brighton. It would be the first complete built establishment on the boardwalk. The complete cost of the complex came in at around 69 million dollars. It had a total of 506 rooms and a casino that covered 32,000 square feet. This wasn’t very big compared to the others open in the city.
The Brighton was also the first hotel owned by local businessmen. Eugene V. Gatti and Arthur Kania were both from Ocean City. This seemed to give them a leg up with the Atlantic City commission. They had no problem getting licensed. In fact they were the first to get a permanent license without having to make changes to its leadership.
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It wasn’t long after it opened that The Brighton started having money issues. By October of 1980 many believed that it was heading for bankruptcy. But instead it announced that it sold to PPI Corporation, owned by Inns of America and two others.
The company had recently bought the Sands in Las Vegas and wanted to expand to Atlantic City. In May of 1981 The Brighton became The Sands and it received a permanent license by the board. The hotel has stayed successful and was recently bought by Hollywood Casino Corporation.
The Golden Nugget
The Golden Nugget made it’s debut on the boardwalk in 1980. It was Steve Wynn’s first venture into the gambling industry in Atlantic City. Wynn had had an incredible rise to fame in Las Vegas and wanted to get in on the new industry in Atlantic City.
Wynn came to Atlantic City in 1978 to see how Atlantic City was doing with the new legalized gambling. He visited the Resorts International. He saw all the money gambled and the crowds that were overflowing at the Resorts. After talking with Jack Davis, the owner of the International, Wynn met with Manny Soloman.
Soloman was the owner of the Strand Motel and was looking to sell. Wynn met with him and in less than 30 minutes he had agreed to buy the Strand for 8.5 million dollars in cash. Soon after his purchase he started working on his first casino outside of Nevada.
The construction of Atlantic City’s Golden Nugget took 16 months and cost close to $160 million. The resort was a 506 room 22 story building. It also included a 40,805 square foot casino, 500 seat theaters, and 500 parking spot garage.
Upon completion of construction Wynn received a temporary license in November of 1980. He received his permanent license in November of 1981. From its grand opening on December 9, 1980 it was one of the best operating casinos in the city. During its first six months of operation it made more money than all the other casinos combined.
Wynn got tired of Atlantic City and its strict rules. He claimed they were keeping the gaming business from reaching its full potential. Wynn sold the Golden Nugget to Bally’s for over $400 million and swore he would never return to the city.
The Tropicana
Ramada Inns bought the Ambassador Hotel to add to their casino holdings. They had been buying casinos in Las Vegas and Reno and were now venturing into the new Atlantic City. The original plans were to restore the building. But the governor at the time was sick of the patch jobs that were going against the law. She wanted the hotel demolished.
The Ramada president threatened to appeal the decision. But he found a way around the ruling. Instead of completely demolishing the building he figured out a different way. He could remove the brick and mortar and use the steel beams to build his hotel. This procedure is “peeling”. And although it wasn’t what the governor had in mind she couldn’t do anything about it.
They named the hotel Tropicana intending to help with initial profits. The hotel when finished had a 60,000 square foot casino. It also had a 1000 seat ballroom, 546 rooms, and 1200 seat dinner theater.
On November 23, 1981 the resort opened to the public. They received their permanent license in a year. After opening the Tropicana underwent some changes. They added an indoor amusement park. But this didn’t last long and shut down in 1995 to make room for a new poker and keno room.
At the time of its opening it was the largest resort on the boardwalk. To keep up with the mega resorts of the late 90s they added a tower that increased occupancy to 1600 rooms.
Playboy
Hugh Hefner wanted to get in on action in Atlantic City. He partnered with Elsinore Corporation to build the Playboy Hotel and Casino. The casino opened on a small piece of land on Florida Avenue where it meets the boardwalk.
The casino establishment was a unique building. It included three stories. They included 500 rooms required by law in Atlantic City. The design of the casino was to resemble the popular Playboy clubs. The bunny logo displayed throughout the building.
The design went throughout the hotel and casino. You could also find the dealers dressed in the famous bunny uniforms. The casino was ready and opened on April 14, 1981. But it wasn’t destined for greatness. This is unlike most of the endeavors that Hefner has had throughout his career.
Gamblers didn’t like the design of the hotel. And the commission didn’t want to allow Hefner into Atlantic City. So they denied Hefner a license. The casino ended up run by his partners at Elsinore Corporation. Hefner allowed the trademark logo to continue until 1984. Then he gave up trying to get approved by the commission and sold his shares.
In June of 1984 the Playboy touch went away and the name changed to Atlantis. With the new ownership and name change the following years were still unprofitable. When it came up for re licensing the city denied its request.
After the CCC denied the license renewal the casino closed in June of 1989. This made it the first casino to come to Atlantic City and fail. After its closure Donald Trump stepped in and bought the building. He turned it into the Trump Regency which was no longer a casino but a upscale hotel. This wouldn’t be the last of the casino though. In 1996 Trump reopened it as a casino under the name Trump World’s Fair Casino.
Conclusion
Atlantic City is the first city outside of Nevada that embraced the gaming industry. Throughout its history the CCC and DGE have been hard on casino owners from Las Vegas or other areas.
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Laws imposing requirements for room availability and size of casino are restrictive. Add the background requirements for people running the casinos and it stunts growth. These restrictions make it difficult for experienced casino groups to get a license. Inexperienced owner groups are even more restricted.
Giving a company an ultimatum like the Pearlman’s received seems a little like blackmail to me. What makes the CCC and DGE any better than the people they were trying to keep out of the city?
Atlantic City might be the biggest gambling city on the east coast but it hasn’t seen the success of Las Vegas or Reno. Through the years it hasn’t seen the expected growth and in recent years seen a huge decline in profits city wide. Many of the casinos mentioned in have gone out of business.
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Steve Wynn said the city’s laws are keeping the industry from reaching its potential. This is evident from the decline in the industry in recent years. Atlantic City still has some casinos that are open and operating at a profitable margin. But these establishments are few and far between. This should give the CCC and DGE an idea that something needs to change.
Changing the laws and giving new business breaks might bring in more revenue. This might revive the industry that the people fought so hard to bring to the city.