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ATLANTIC CITY, NJ – The last time there was so much hype about the future of this troubled seaside resort, Donald Trump was doing most of the time.
The president, then a casino impresario, opened the Trump Taj Mahal, the largest gaming site on the boardwalk, in great fanfare and at a cost of $ 1.2 billion in 1990, before falling bankrupt the following year. After years of decline, it closed in 2016, apparently consigned to symbolize the ruinous excess here during the Trump era.
But now, less than two years later, the old Taj, stripped of his false minarets, concrete elephants and evidence of Trump's name, reopened like the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. On the same day, Wednesday, another failed casino – the appallingly sinister Revel, just steps from the boardwalk – was reopened as Ocean Resort.
Both properties then had big openings on Thursday. They were two of five Atlantic City casinos that had closed since 2014. Together, they will restore about 6,000 of the 11,000 jobs that were lost in closures.
These awakenings are happening just as New Jersey casinos are jostling for another way to separate players from their savings: bet on sports events. Borgata Casino started taking bets on the sport on June 14 and others, including the Ocean Resort, are rushing to install sports books in important locations on their casino floors. Adding a popular form of play could help attract customers during the sad winter months.
In total, this represents more opportunities than many people who live and work here could have imagined a few years ago, when a takeover town of a bankruptcy depot.
Although this famous mecca of the game still has a long way to go to reverse its situation, some boosters are already painting a pink image
. the future, as new buildings rise and the old streets give them a new life, "said Governor Philip Murphy, a Democrat, at a recent conference on gambling organized at the 39, lunch time. & # 39; & # 39; It was not long ago – it was not so long ago – people were writing Atlantic City. It was past his first. The economy was dead
"Now, when people talk about Atlantic City, they talk about renewal, they talk about opportunity."
New Jersey became the second state – Nevada was the first – with a legal casino when Resorts International opened on the boardwalk in 1978. But a gambling license has not always been a sure thing: in a race to cash, Trump and his competitors often borrowed more than they could repay.
The city had 13 casinos, three of which controlled by Trump, but each of its properties went bankrupt and it eventually withdrew from the Caesars Entertainment case, which still has three casinos here, had incurred a debt of 39; about 25 billion dollars before going Because of the city's track record, not everyone was seduced by the promises of casino executives and elected officials to do Atlantic City a more family-oriented resort. The same promises have been made for decades, but the city has remained dependent on the players, even though it has long since lost its status as the only place in the country that welcomed them outside Las Vegas.
The campaign is now dotted with casinos, many of which are within driving distance.
Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and New York have legalized casinos, these states draining an important share of Atlantic City blood. What once was an annual business turnover of more than $ 5 billion has been halved, and even the most optimistic investors do not expect a full rebound.
"Do I need the gaming market to be $ 6? billion of revenue? No, not even close, said Jim Allen, Managing Director of Hard Rock International.
But still, his company and local partners, the Jingoli and Morris families, have invested more than $ 500 million to close the Taj Mahal at a station that focuses on live music and entertainment. Hard Rock's reading of consumer sentiment is that people want the Atlantic to succeed, but they think he's "lost his way," Allen said.
The last round of investment in the casinos on the boardwalk, he says, is "
" If a brand like Hard Rock fails in Atlantic City, the interest in investing in this city is going dramatically decrease, "Allen said. & # 39; & # 39; However, if we succeed, then I think the future is very promising in Atlantic City. & # 39; & # 39;
As for sports betting, Allen said the Hard Rock was preparing to announce a partnership with a sports book company in the new casino. He said that he expected sports betting to modestly boost casino profits and attract people to big events like the Super Bowl. "It's another positive thing happening," he said. & # 39; & # 39; This is another reason to go to Atlantic City. & # 39; & # 39;
The owners of the new Boardwalk casino, Ocean Resort, make a bigger bet on sports betting. They turn a bar in the center of the casino into a sports book that will serve as a place for fans to watch games and bet on them.
& # 39; & # 39; Coming from Nevada, it's hard to imagine a casino Seth Schorr, an adviser to Bruce Deifik, the casino's president. In Nevada, the only place in the country where sports betting was legal before this month, about $ 4.8 billion was wet last year and casinos kept about $ 250 million, according to the Center. UNLV Games Research. "Our goal is to create experiences."
A state legislator who pushed for New Jersey to legalize sports betting, former Democratic State Senator Raymond Lesniak, pointed out that big betting weekend sports occur during the months when casinos are much quieter.
"Atlantic City is doing well during the summer, but the off season is hungry," Lesniak said. & # 39; & # 39; During the NCAA Tournament, Super Bowl week, any big event, you can not get a room in Las Vegas and Atlantic City is a ghost town. This changes with sports betting.
Indeed, the prospect of filling what was once slow weekends is the real hope among Atlantic City casino operators, rather than potential tax revenues for the state or city. city.
The biggest uncertainty about Atlantic City is what the reopening of two large casinos will mean for the market. Will they attract a significant number of new customers to the city or just cannibalize the weaker competitors?
Resorts made a profit of less than $ 3 million last year, compared with more than $ 80 million for the Borgata. The application of games. Bally's, one of only three owned by Caesars, has made a profit of about $ 8 million in 2017.
Those who will remember the tainted taste of Donald and Ivana Trump of the Taj Mahal will not recognize the place: The rows of chandeliers that dominate the view as guests climbed the main escalator up to the casino floor are gone, supplanted by a huge silver guitar suspended from the ceiling. Video screens around the escalators play excerpts from Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, Nirvana and Johnny Cash as customers go down to the casino
Tom Fortunato, of Lynbrook, New York, came to Atlantic City without knowing that the Hard Rock had opened Wednesday. "He looks great," says Fortunato, who says he has visited the Trump Taj Mahal "more times than I want to admit it."
"It's amazing what they did" A striking thing about the very first night of the casino: the absence of any noticeable cigarette smell, the casino having only a few hours.
"It's really light and fresh here," says Paul Wolowski, of Hicksville. , New York. "It smells even good here."
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