New Jersey Casino Hotels Closing

It is a shame really, but four New Jersey Casino Hotels Closing  this fall throwing thousands of people out of work. The Revel, the Trump Plaza, the Showboat and the Atlantic Club Casino closed this year. Revenues are down 6.2% from last year and there is no relief in site so the owners are being forced to close these properties.

It has been rumored that the Revel hotel is being purchased by a company named Brookfield out of Las Vegas. They are getting a real bargain if this deal goes though. The Revel was built at a cost of $2.4 billion several years ago. It will be picked up for a paltry $110 million dollars. Details of the deal have not been disclosed although we do know that they are negotiating with the city to lower the taxes paid on the property. As of mid 2016, it is still under negotiations.

New Jersey Casino Hotels Closing – Taxes

The city and the state want their share of taxes and have not been willing to forgo the taxes that have been collected in previous years. The City of Atlantic City is also suffering from reduced tax revenue from property taxes. Tourism taxes and is looking for ways to beef this up. This is one of the major reasons people are staying away in droves. Tolls(another form of taxes) on the highways are expensive and parking fees take another bite out of tourist visitors. Both suffer substantially when people stay away from the Atlantic City area.

New Jersey Casino Hotels Closing – Competition

The other major reason consumers are staying home, particularly those that gamble is that they now have a choice of going to local casinos in surrounding states. Practically every state is getting into the act and running their own casinos to keep this revenue in the state. This provides a very difficult competitive problem for Atlantic City especially in the fall, winter and spring. The beaches may draw people in the summer to the area. It is a cold place along the coast in the winter time.

We hope Atlantic city finds a solution to this problem. We hope that the city also gets into the act of being more competitive to save this tourism business and the jobs of thousands of people.