ATLANTIC CITY - The casino industry here had reason for optimism heading into 2020.
Total gaming revenue was up 19.5 percent in 2019 compared to the prior year. Trends were pointing a similar direction going into March when COVID-19 hit. Before the pandemic, Atlantic City casinos posted an impressive 21 consecutive months of revenue growth, Steve Callender, president of the Casino Association of New Jersey, said. . New Jersey’s sportsbooks surpassed Nevada’s for the first time. We continue to see tremendous growth in online gaming and sports betting, with New Jersey gamblers wagering nearly $1 billion in December 2020 alone.
Atlantic City s casinos endured among the longest wait of any industry before being permitted to reopen in July with indoor dining and alcohol consumption bans in place, and live entertainment on hold.
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‘I never have seen anything like this before.’ It’s dark days in Atlantic City, some say the worst is yet to come.
Updated Jan 04, 2021;
Posted Dec 28, 2020
A man with a rolling chair watches as visitors pass by on the boardwalk in Atlantic City recently. The city that relies heavily on tourism and day-trippers has been hard hit by the pandemic.Lori M. Nichols
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At the Salvation Army, a block away from the Atlantic City boardwalk, Lewis Saunders recently waited in line for a box of food.
Saunders works at AC Linen, a commercial business that does laundry for the hotels in the city. In good times, he can work as much as 60 hours a week.
Can AC casinos hold on through the rest of the pandemic?
When the coronavirus pandemic first took hold of the Garden State in March, Atlantic City s nine casinos were ordered closed.
Following more than three months of zero gaming activity indoors, and still dealing with capacity and amenity restrictions, nine casinos continue to operate heading into the new year. And industry observers don t expect any of the gaming halls to fold before New Jersey fights its way out of the health crisis. As long as the casinos can just stay open for a few months it looks like there s a light at the end of the tunnel I don t think there will be any closings in Atlantic City, said Jane Bokunewicz, coordinator of the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality & Tourism at Stockton University. Even with restrictions, every single casino in Atlantic city in the third quarter did have a positive gross operating profit.
Philly casinos are betting big on the future
Live! Rivers and Bally s in AC have big plans for a comeback
The $700 million Live! Casino Hotel in South Philly is expected to open its doors early next year. Owners of the facility said that, despite the havoc COVID has wreaked, there never was a thought of pulling out of the project. | Image: Tom Briglia, courtesy of Live! Casino-Hotel Philadelphia.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to burn across America like a molecular version of a California wildfire, it’s not surprising that optimism appears headed for the endangered-species list.
But in South Philadelphia, hard by Citizens Bank Park, a $700 million monument to that most important of human attitudes is being constructed.