Atlantic City Braces for More Bad News
by:Webmaster            
 Monday, November 10, 2008

Atlantic City hasn’t had a lot of luck befall its 11 casinos recently. Just last week, a big casino developer put a $2 billion Boardwalk project on permanent back burn, and the city's newest casino hope laid off 400 workers.

And despite Donald Trump getting the green light to transform a certain stretch of Scottish coast into a world-class golfing destination, he had to lob off $46 million from one of his casinos in an effort to salvage a sale to someone else—obvious signs of Trump's casino company cutting top-executive pay by five percent.

And it doesn’t stop there as October's casino revenue numbers are expected to be released today, and there’s a collective holding of breath as this hammer comes down considering that September had the highest monthly drop in revenues in the 30-year history of legalized gambling, which is down more than 15 percent. All of which happened before the financial crisis really gathered steam. So you add those ingredients together, plus a smoking ban, and you’re never going to come out with something rosy. “Perfect Storm” parallels are difficult to ignore.

Last week, Pinnacle Entertainment claimed it could be "years and years and years" before going ahead with its beach house-themed casino where the Sands Casino Hotel used to be. Since the company cleared the area, the vacant land has been a stark reminder to city officials and many residents of woeful times.

Pinnacle, fronted by CEO Dan Lee, also says it would consider selling the land and getting out altogether "if someone made us a decent offer."

"With Atlantic City, we recognize that this isn't an environment to go dream big," he commented. "We are going to sit in Atlantic City. We may be sitting there for a very long period of time."

According to the state Casino Control Commission, there were over 40,000 workers in Atlantic City casinos as of Nov. 1, which is a reduction of 664 since the start of the year