MRI Casino Marketing Blog
Is the Glass Half Empty or Half Full for the Atlantic City Gaming Industry?

Wayne Perry of USA Today writes about Atlantic City’s need to transition from the Gaming Capital of the East Coast to a multi-faceted destination where gambling is just part of the appeal. These last few weeks have certainly delivered some blows to this once thriving gaming getaway. Atlantic City began 2014 with 12 casinos, but may be down to nine by the end of this summer.  

The first hit came in mid-January when the small and underperforming Atlantic Club shut its doors. Then June brought news that Revel, a recently constructed Las Vegas styled mega casino with gambling, dining, shopping, and clubbing, was filing bankruptcy for the second time since 2013. While people were processing that bit of information, Caesars Entertainment announced they were shutting down one of their four Atlantic City casinos – the Mardi Gras-themed Showboat.

While there is no way to sugarcoat the damaging effects of all of these lost casino jobs, the optimists believe these moves may be good for the long-term sustainability of an Atlantic City casino market; one that has faced challenges from a now oversaturated Northeast casino market.

Casino gaming has grown from yesterday’s Las Vegas and New Jersey monopolies to nearly every state offering some form of gambling. The three decade long monopoly that Atlantic City once had in the East is long gone and there are simply too many casinos in the region and not enough gamblers to support all of them. While Revel is an immaculate structure, it’s become abundantly clear now that building more casinos, no matter how incredible they are, isn’t the answer for Atlantic City’s gaming woes. The question now is... what is?

From “Analysts: Atlantic City Casino Shutdown Needed” - courtesy of usatoday.com

”ATLANTIC CITY, New Jersey (AP) — Atlantic City started the year with 12 casinos. By the end of August, it could be down to nine.

For years, economists and analysts talked in theoretical terms about "casino saturation" in the northeastern United States. But there's nothing theoretical about what's happening in Atlantic City now...”

Read more at http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/06/29/atlantic-city-casino-shutdown-needed-analysts-say/11712459/ -