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ATLANTIC CITY – The last time there was so much hype about the future of this troubled seaside resort, Donald J. Trump did most of the hyping.
The president, then casino manager, opened the Trump Taj Mahal, the largest gaming site on the boardwalk, with great fanfare and at a cost of $ 1.2 billion in 1990, before going bankrupt. Next 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 obviously named Trump, is about to reopen like the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. The same day, June 28, another failed casino – the awfully sinister Revel – is revived just steps from the boardwalk as Ocean Resort.
These reruns are scheduled just as New Jersey casinos are struggling to take advantage of another way to separate players from their savings: betting 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 gloomy winter months.
All in all, this represents more opportunities that many people who live and work here could have imagined a few years ago when five of the city 's 12 casinos failed and a takeover of the property. State saved the city from a bankruptcy filing.
Although this famous mecca of the game still has a long way to go to reverse its situation, some boosters already paint a pink image.
"All around us, we have a glimpse of the future of Atlantic City, as new buildings rise and the old streets inspire them with new life," said Governor Philip D. Murphy. , democrat. "It was not so long ago – it was not long ago – people were writing Atlantic City.It was past its 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 out, Mr. Trump and his competitors have often borrowed more than they could repay.
At one point, this small town had 13 casinos, three of which were controlled by Mr. Trump. But each of his properties went bankrupt and he eventually withdrew from the business. Caesars Entertainment, which still owns three casinos here, had a debt of about $ 25 billion before going bankrupt in 2015.
Given the city's track record, not everyone has been conquered by the promises of casino executives and elected officials to make Atlantic City a more family-friendly resort. The same promises have been made for decades, but the city has remained dependent on players even though it has long since lost its status as the only place in the country that has hosted them outside Las Vegas. The campaign is now dotted with casinos, many of which are within a short drive.
After Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and New York legalized the casinos, these states have drained much of the vital energy of Atlantic City. What was once an annual revenue stream of more than $ 5 billion was cut in half and even the most optimistic investors do not expect a full rebound.
"Do I think the gaming market is worth nearly $ 6 billion in revenue? No, not even close," said Jim Allen, Managing Director of Hard Rock International.
But still, his company and his local partners, the Jingoli and Morris families, have invested more than half a billion dollars to make the Taj Mahal shuttered a resort center with a focus on live music and entertainment. Hard Rock's reading of consumer sentiment is that people expect 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 said, is a turning point for the city.
"If a brand like Hard Rock fails in Atlantic City, the interest of investing capital in this city will drastically decrease," Allen said. "However, if we succeed, then I think the future is very promising in Atlantic City."
Regarding sports betting, Allen said the Hard Rock was preparing to announce a partnership with a company that would run a sports book in the new casino. He stated that he expected sports betting to modestly boost casinos' profits and attract at major events like the Super Bowl.
"It's another positive thing happening," he said. "That's another reason to go to Atlantic City."
The owners of the new Boardwalk casino, Ocean Resort, are making 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.
"Coming from Nevada, it's hard to imagine a casino without a sports book," said Seth Schorr, an advisor 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 wagered on the sport last year and the casinos kept about $ 250 million , according to UNLV Center for Gaming Research.
Standing in the empty space that he said would be ready to start accepting bets when the casino opens Thursday, Mr. Schorr said: "You must have an exciting environment to watch the game. to create experiences. "
A state legislator who pushed New Jersey to legalize sports betting, former Democratic Senator Raymond Lesniak, pointed out that big sports betting weekends occur during the months when casinos are a lot quieter.
"Atlantic City is doing well during the summer, but off season it's hungry," said Lesniak. "During the N.C.A. tournament, Super Bowl week, a 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 the potential tax revenues that sportsbooks would bring back for the state or city. the city. Moody's estimated that New Jersey casinos could earn about $ 125 million a year on sports betting, less than 5% of what the remaining seven casinos earned last year. They are also earning revenue as exclusive online gaming providers in the state.
As soon as the Borgata started to bet on the sport, it had a sign announcing the new game outside the Lincoln Tunnel in New Jersey. "We believe that the dynamism that this type of offer will create will extend beyond the race and sport book and will spread to the rest of the property," said Marcus Glover, president and chief from the exploitation of the Borgata.
Mr. Deifik, the owner of Ocean Resort, predicted that sports betting would keep more players in the area. "Instead of taking the plane and going to Las Vegas for five hours from the East Coast and New Jersey, people will stay here," he said.
The biggest uncertainty regarding Atlantic City is what the reopening of two major 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, according to the State Division of Gaming Application. Bally, one of three owned by Caesars, has made a profit of about $ 8 million in 2017.
Despite the city's tattered history, Joseph Jingoli overflows with optimism. A politically connected builder, Mr. Jingoli's company rehabilitates the old Taj and builds a complex in Atlantic City that will house a campus of Stockton University and the relocated offices of South Jersey Gas, a utility.
"We watched this market," he said, referring to himself and his partner, Jack Morris, a developer. "We think the time has come."
As evidence of the resilience of Atlantic City, Mr Jingoli mentioned some entrepreneurs who invest themselves. Deborah and Mark Pellegrino left their jobs in the hospitality industry and invested about $ 200,000 in Made, a chocolate-making company with a small bar half a block away from the walk.
Flanked by bags of cocoa beans from Madagascar and other distant places, Ms. Pellegrino said that some casinos have changed their long-standing attitude – they stopped discouraging guests from venturing out of their walls and explore the city. "I think there is a new audience and they want a new experience," she said.
With a complete list of booked concerts – from Frankie Valli to Pitbull – Hard Rock relies on artists to attract a wave of younger and more curious visitors, said Jingoli. "We are here to develop the market."
Some longtime casino customers are less exuberant. Sitting on a bench between Ocean Resort and the beach, Marjorie Parker, who lives in Brooklyn, seemed skeptical.
"They have a lot of work to do," said Ms. Parker, a retired Citibank employee, while she was studying the glass tower that will soon be the Ocean Resort. Wearing a thong that contained membership cards in several casinos, Ms. Parker has been remembered to have visited the Borgata on the day of her inauguration 15 years ago. She said that she had only come back two or three times.
She said that she preferred less glitzy places like Bally's, where she said she could stay two nights for as little as $ 50 after taking the bus from there. 39, Port Authority of Manhattan. When asked what new casinos could do to attract players like her, Ms. Parker advised them to be more generous.
"People want to win," she said. "They do not want to lose all their money."
But for a city where so many people have struggled so long, new casinos are already improving lives. In preparation for its beginnings, Hard Rock hired more than 3,000 people, at least 800 of whom were working at the Taj. Dora Brooks, 58, and Mary Martinez, 62, were there when the largest union, Local 54 of Unite Here, went on strike in 2016 and precipitated the end of the Taj.
"It was very depressing," said Ms. Brooks. "My heart was just broken in half."
Native of Atlantic City, she said that she had been personally offended by all the speeches of the free fall of her hometown. "When people talk about Atlantic City, I feel like they're talking about me," Ms. Brooks said.
Ms. Martinez, who has been living in Atlantic City for 15 years, said she was not expecting to land another full-time job at a casino, but she never lost hope.
"I have never seen this as a downward spiral," she said. "I've always thought of Atlantic City as a little bright star."
Nick Corasaniti and Rick Rojas contributed to the report.
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