Traditional Casinos Closing

There is a great deal of competition in the casino industry and now there seems to be a bit of a shakeout starting with a number of traditional casinos closing. It used to be that there were really just four main places to go to for gambling. These were in order of size – Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Tunica, Biloxi and perhaps Laughlin. They worked with local governments and they prospered.  Unfortunately a number of events have taken place that are dealing some of these locations a financial blow that is tough to come back from. Some have even closed, gone bankrupt and reopened under new owners.

Traditional Casinos Closing – Atlantic City

The first big names to fall by the way side are several of the casinos in Atlantic City. Atlantic city has been for many years the go to place for gambling in addition to the beaches. There were approximately  twelve casinos along the boardwalk and in the marina area. There was at least 50 million people within one days driving distance from New York, Phli, Washington etc. The casinos would bus people in, offering a meal, some tokens and hope that they would spend the day gambling.

Four casinos are closing in September in 2014. Revel, Showboat, Atlantic club and Trump Casino will close putting at least 8000 people out of work. Revel was a brand new hotel that just did not make it and was not popular with local gamblers. With growing poverty in the area, Atlantic city needs to take steps to figure out how to reinvigorate the industry.

Unfortunately, there have been casinos popping up in surrounding states. Each state tired of losing revenue to New Jersey decided to have casinos of their own and this has siphoned off much of the tourism traffic to the Atlantic city.  A storm dealt a recent blow to the area taking the focus away from gambling and taking money as well. In addition, the writer found that the extensive tolls that travelers needed to pay just to get there was adding up. Combine tolls with closer easier to get to casinos and many people are staying in their home states.