Nj Casino History
The First Casinos in New Jersey Then, in 1976, New Jersey became the second state in the US to legalize gambling. The state allowed gambling casinos to operate in order to raise money for the disabled and the elderly. 1978 was a landmark year for the state of New Jersey. That was the year when the first casino opened in New Jersey at Atlantic City.
According to nj.com, Trump had been buying up land near the end of the Atlantic City Expressway to build a casino, acquiring his first license to do so in 1982. Two years later, the $210 million 39-story Harrah’s at Trump Plaza opened up as the biggest casino in Atlantic City history. The outspoken casino magnate was awarded his first casino license by the New Jersey Control Commission on 15 th March, 1982. The initial plan had been for Trump to build and open his own casino in.
Atlantic City has seen a dozen casinos open up over the 40-plus years New Jerseycasino gambling has been legal.
Four of them ceased operations in 2014 and a fifth closed in 2016. At least one of those properties is now a non-gaming hotel and two others opened under different names. Several plans for the other two have been thrown at the wall, but none have stuck.
The AC casino industry now boasts nine active casinos. It has had its share of ups and downs, including several occasions when all casinos closed due to either government shutdowns or global pandemics.
Below you’ll find brief histories of all 12 casinos in Atlantic City and an explanation of where they are today. Plus, we take a closer look at the most recent and longest casino shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic.
COVID-19 pandemic shuts down Atlantic City casinos
On March 16, 2020, Gov. Phil Murphy ordered lights out at Atlantic City casinos.
For just the fifth time in the history of legal New Jersey casino gambling, all casinos closed in an effort to contain the coronavirus, also called COVID-19.
Shortly after the March 16 closure, Murphy said AC casinos would remain closed until it is safe for them to reopen.
“It is no longer time for business as usual. This is real. Stop believing folks who say this isn’t real.”
How long were Atlantic City casinos closed?
The exact date for reopening would be 108 days later on July 2. This makes the coronavirus closure the longest shutdown of NJ gambling in the state’s history.
Atlantic City casinos reopened with several health and safety restrictions, including a 25% capacity limit. This restriction is still in place as of September 2020 with no timeline on when or if it will change.
BREAKING: On Thursday, July 2nd:
🎰Casinos may reopen – operating at 25% capacity
🍽️Indoor dining may resume – limited at first to 25% capacity
Additional health and safety guidance will be released within the next several days. pic.twitter.com/b4jY2fR3sp
— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) June 22, 2020
Most Atlantic City casinos reopened on July 2 and July 3 before the holiday weekend. However, Borgata’s planned reopening of July 6 was canceled. The casino chose to stay closed after news came that indoor diningwould not resume as planned.
Borgata would eventually reopen but nearly a month after the other eight casinos on July 26. Indoor dining resumed at 25% capacity on Sept. 4.
AC casinos forced to close before
AC casinos closed five times since gambling began in 1978. Three closures were related to hurricanes and one due to a government shutdown:
- 1985: Hurricane Gloria
- 2006: Government shutdown (three days)
- 2011: Hurricane Irene (three days)
- 2012: Hurricane Sandy (five days)
- 2020: COVID-19 pandemic (108 days)
Operating New Jersey casinos
Bally’s
Bally’s Atlantic City opened in 1979 at the corner of Park Place and the Boardwalk. The property featured two casinos with more than 220,000 square feet of gaming space and more than 5,000 slot machines.
However, with Caesars Entertainment merging with Eldorado Resorts, Bally’s and Wild Wild West Casino will part ways. The former will be sold to Twin River Worldwide Holdings. The latter will become part of the neighboring Caesars Atlantic City.
The sale of Bally’s is still pending. And a name change is entirely possible.
Borgata
The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa opened in Atlantic City in 2003. It has been the market’s top-grossing casino property ever since. Borgata was originally a partnership between MGM Resorts and Boyd Gaming. MGM bought out Boyd’s 50% interest in 2016.
The property features a 2,000-room hotel and a 161,000-square-foot casino with close to 3,500 slot machines and more than 250 table games. It is also home to the premier poker room on the East Coast.
Borgat is home to not one but two retail sportsbooks. The BetMGM Sportsbook & Bar and the Borgata Race & Sports Book are located next to each other, but the latter is the only one spot in AC that allows horse betting.
The Water Club at Borgata, an 800-room boutique hotel, was added in 2008.
Caesars Atlantic City
Caesars Atlantic City first opened as the Boardwalk Regency in Atlantic City in 1979. The company bought an 11-story Howard Johnson’s Regency Motor Hotel on the property and renovated it to include seven more floors and a 52,000-square-foot casino. When it opened, it was just the second legal casino in Atlantic City.
In 1983, the company added the name Caesars and it became Caesars Boardwalk Regency. In 1987, Caesars renamed the property Caesars Atlantic City. The casino expanded its gaming floor and added two more hotel towers during the next 20 years.
The property now has more than 1,100 rooms and 145,000 square feet of gaming space, featuring more than 3,000 slot machines and 135 table games.
With the pending sale of its Boardwalk neighbor Bally’s, Caesars AC will become home to the largest sportsbook in the resort town.
Golden Nugget Atlantic City
Golden Nugget Atlantic City was originally built by Hilton Hotels. As construction was wrapping up, the company was denied a gambling license. It sold the complex to partner Donald Trump and the property opened in 1985 as Trump’s Castle. Trump renamed it Trump Marina in 1997.
Houston-based hospitality and entertainment company Landry’s, Inc. bought the property in 2011. Landry’s changed its name to Golden Nugget Atlantic City and spent $150 million on renovations.
Golden Nugget Atlantic City now contains almost 75,000 square feet of gaming space and 728 hotel rooms.
Harrah’s
Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City was the Atlantic City Marina District’s original hotel and casino. It is also the flagship property under the Harrah’s brand.
The property opened in November 1980 as Harrah’s Marina Resort. It was the first casino in Atlantic City not on the Boardwalk.
It opened with a 506-room Harbor Tower. A new all-suite Atrium Tower premiered in 1986. In 1997, the property constructed the 16-story Marina Tower. In 2002, the 25-story Bayview Tower debuted. Finally, in 2008 came the addition of the Waterfront Tower, along with a new pool and spa.
The casino has been expanded to feature 177,000 square feet of gaming space, with more than 5,500 slots and video poker games. It also has close to 140 table games and a 40-table poker room.
Resorts
Resorts Casino Hotel became Atlantic City’s first legal casino when it opened in May 1978. It was originally built on land that housed two three-story wooden Quaker rooming houses. The casino and hotel grew in 2004 with the addition of a 27-story hotel tower.
Renovations in 2011 saw Resorts converted to a Roaring Twenties-themed property. Resorts now boasts 80,000 square feet of gaming space with more than 1,500 slot machines and 70 table games.
Tropicana
The bones of the Tropicana Casino & Resort Atlantic City are made up of the original Ambassador Hotel built back in 1919. The historic hotel closed in the early 1970s. Ramada bought it in 1978. In 1981, Ramada rebuilt the property into Tropicana Atlantic City, a 521-room hotel and casino on the Atlantic City Boardwalk.
Tropicana expanded with a second hotel tower and an amusement center called Tivoli Pier in 1988. The property changed its name to Tropworld Casino and Entertainment Resort. In 1996, a new 604-room hotel tower opened, Tivoli Pier closed, and the entire property was renovated. It then took on the name Tropicana Casino & Resort Atlantic City.
The property underwent further expansion and more renovations in 2004. At that time, The Quarter at Tropicana, an old-Havana themed shopping mall, opened up.
Tropicana, or the Trop as it’s known locally, now boasts three floors of gaming with more than 3,000 slot machines and 135 table games. There are also some 2,400 hotel rooms on the property. Plus, Tropicana acquired The Chelsea in 2017, a 330-room boutique hotel next door.
The casino was an Eldorado Resorts company, but the Caesars Entertainment merger puts Tropicana under the Caesars umbrella.
New Atlantic City casinos
Ocean Casino Resort
Plans to build the Revel Casino Resort on the Atlantic City Boardwalk property across from the Showboat Casino Hotel began in 2007. A $2 billion casino hotel with two-700-foot towers was expected to be completed in 2010. Financial troubles and construction slowdowns plagued the project and the opening date was pushed back several times.
Revel opened on April 2, 2012. Operators filed for bankruptcy within a year. The hotel and casino shut down in September 2014. Florida developer Glenn Straub bought it out of bankruptcy court for $82 million in 2015. Straub had difficulties obtaining the necessary state and local permits to reopen. After rebranding the property TEN, he pushed back relaunch dates several times.
At one time, the property contained 1,400 hotel rooms and as much as 130,000 square feet of gaming floor space.
In late 2017, rumors started to churn that Straub was considering selling the former Revel. Those rumors proved to be true when in January 2018, word came that the casino had been sold to Colorado developer AC Ocean Walk.
The property opened as Ocean Resort Casino on June 28 and was one of the first casinos on the Boardwalk to have a sportsbook.
In early 2019, the casino was once again sold, this time to Luxor Capital Investments. The casino was rebranded to Ocean Casino Resort and has since gained market share.
Hard Rock Atlantic City
Built at a cost of more than $1 billion, Trump Taj Mahal first opened in 1990 and was the largest casino in the world at the time. It was the top-grossing casino in Atlantic City prior to the opening of the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in 2003.
However, Trump Taj Mahal went through numerous bankruptcy proceedings and ownership changes over its more than 25 years in operation.
Trump Taj Mahal closed down on Oct. 10, 2016, in the middle of a labor dispute.
The property was sold to Hard Rock International in 2017 and went through a $500 million renovation. It reopened as Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City in June 2018, quickly becoming one of the top casinos in the market.
Repurposed casino properties in AC
Showboat Atlantic City
The Showboat Hotel, Casino and Bowling Center opened in March 1987 featuring a 60,000-square-foot casino and a 60-lane bowling alley. A renovation in 1995 brought in a Mardi Gras theme. In 1998, Harrah’s Entertainment bought Showboat’s parent company and took ownership.
The casino converted the bowling alley into a buffet in 2001. In 2003, it built another hotel tower and remodeled the original. In 2004, it constructed a third hotel tower. That same year, Harrah’s Entertainment became Caesars Entertainment and made plans to close and sell the casino. Caesars shuttered the Showboat on Aug. 31, 2014, after failing to find a buyer.
Richard Stockton College bought the property with plans to turn it into a college campus but later sold to Philadelphia developer Bart Blatstein. It reopened as a non-gaming hotel in July 2016. (A deed restriction on the property prevents it from reactivating a casino.)
Blatstein’s Showboat plans include an indoor water park on the vacant lot next door to Showboat.
Nj Casino History
New Jersey casinos closed for good?
The Atlantic Club Casino Hotel
The Atlantic Club Casino Hotel was Atlantic City’s original Golden Nugget. In fact, it opened up as the Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino in 1980. Bally Manufacturing acquired the casino in 1987 and changed the name to Bally’s Grand Hotel and Casino.
Hilton Hotels Corporation bought Bally in 1998 and renamed the property Atlantic City Hilton.
In 2005, Resorts International Holdings bought the casino and ran Resorts Atlantic City and the Atlantic City Hilton for the next four years as a single entity.
The Hilton name was removed in June 2011 and it became the ACH Casino Resort. It was rebranded and renamed The Atlantic Club Casino Hotel in 2012.
The casino shut its doors on Jan. 13, 2014. Caesars Entertainment bought the property and Tropicana obtained all the gaming equipment. However, Caesars Entertainment sold the property to TJM Properties in 2014. TJM made plans to reopen it as a non-gaming property.
The company announced in 2017 another developer would be purchasing the property and turning it into an indoor waterpark. The financing for this project ultimately fell through.
Several other deals fell through in the next two years before TJM announced in October 2019 that Colosseo Atlantic City Inc. had purchased the property with plans to turn into a non-gaming hotel. Those plans are mostly still a mystery.
Trump Plaza
Harrah’s at Trump Plaza was the biggest casino in Atlantic City history when it opened in May 1984. It was a joint partnership between Donald Trump and Holiday Inn’s gaming division Harrah’s. It originally featured 614 rooms and a 60,000-square-foot casino.
When Trump opened Trump Castle, Harrah’s claimed it was a conflict of interest. Trump bought out Harrah’s interest in the property and rechristened it Trump Plaza.
The property went through a bankruptcy in 1992 and Trump’s publicly traded Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts took ownership. Trump added a new hotel tower in 1996.
In 2011, the renamed Trump Entertainment Resorts announced it was looking to sell or find a financing partner for a renovation. The company could not find a buyer and Trump Plaza shut down in September 2014.
Over the next six years, the crumbling facade of Trump Plaza would become more than a nuisance. Carl Icahn bought the land in late 2018, terminating the lease on the land and halting any potential buyers. Demolition seemed imperative and likely with no buyers on the horizon.
After a push from Atlantic City’s mayor, Trump Plaza is scheduled to be demolished in January 2021.
Image credit: Felix Mizioznikov / Shutterstock.com
Donald Trump has a long history in Atlantic City. During the big boom period of New Jersey's gambling capital, Trump built the Taj Mahal (now the Hard Rock Casino and Resort) and also ran the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino.
At the time, the Taj Mahal was one of the most impressive casinos on earth. Trump invested $1 billion in the monstrous casino, and it was poised to be the most luxurious casino in the U.S.
Both of Trump's casinos went bankrupt. And many contractors and employees fell on hard times as a result.
But how much of this has to do with the up-and-down nature of the casino industry, and how much with Trump's business practices?
Read to get the details below.
Table of Openings and Closings of Trumps Atlantic City Properties
| Venue | Opening | Closing | Trivia | Current Status of Building |
Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino | May 15, 1984 | September 16, 2014 | Place of inspiration for Scorsese's Casino (1995); host of WrestleMania IV and V | empty; scheduled to be demolished |
| Trump Castle/Marina | June 19, 1985 | May 23, 2011 | Renamed Trump Marina in June 1997 after nearly closing. Father Fred Trump tried to make a loan in the form of chips at the casino. | Golden Nugget |
| Trump's Taj Mahal | April 2, 1990 | October 10, 2016 | Fined $10 million for 'significant and long-standing money laundering violations.' | Hard Rock |
Trump Plaza (1984-2014)
Trump Plaza (a casino and hotel) was Trump's first and more successful business venture in Atlantic City. Trump Plaza would grow to have 906 hotel rooms. The casino contained over 86,000 square feet of gaming space.
Breaking ground, then filling it, then breaking it again
Trump seized upon the opportunity during the height of the casino boom in Atlantic City. He struck a deal with the Holiday Inn company to build the casino and hotel buidling. Harrah's was already at the marina and looking to expand, so the deal was made that Harrah's new casino would be in Trump Plaza.
Despite the fact that Trump was having his building constructed by Holiday Inn and the casino organized by Harrah's, he was slow to break ground. In his Art of the Deal, Trump wrote that had his builders dig a hole, to satisfy Holiday Inn inspectors, and then fill it again when they left.
Trump Plaza's First Years
Trump Plaza cost $210 million to build. When it opened on May 15th, 1984, it was the largest casino in Atlantic City.
While it had a rather strong beginning, by 1990 Trump Plaza was having serious financial problems. In part, this was due to competition from none other than Trump's Taj Mahal.
After seeking a backer for years, the Trump Plaza closed in 2014, laying off around 1,000 employees.
Trump Plaza and Scorsese's Casino
Gambler Akio Kashiwagi lost $10 million in baccarat at Trump Plaza in 1990. Not long after, Martin Scorsese's made it the subject of his film, Casino (1995).
Trump's Taj Mahal (1990-2016)
Trump's Taj Mahal opened with some serious publicity. It was declared the Eighth Wonder of the World. Indeed it was covered with marble, enormous glass walls, and onion domes. Modeled after the white marble Taj Mahal in Agra, India, Trump's Taj Mahal was no less visually spectacular.
Funding the Taj Mahal
The Taj was financed with $700m worth of 'junk bonds.' Junk bonds are high-risk, high-yield loans given to companies with low-credit ratings. This meant the Taj had to come up with $94m a year just to pay off its debts, and $1m a day to be profitable
Trump and Unpaid contractors
“You have to be very rough and very tough with most contractors, or they’ll take the shirt right off your back.” --- Donald Trump: The Art of the Deal
'Atlantic City fueled a lot of growth for me'
- Donald Trump, to New York Times (June 11, 2016)
At the opening of Trump’s Taj Mahal in 1990, he owed $70 million to various contractors. While the casino was not a complete failure, it did not make the kind of money it needed. By 2016, the casino had closed completely bankrupt.
Trump's bankruptcy meant that several contractors were never paid for their work and materials. Below are some claims for unpaid debts to contractors:
- $2 million to Robert Morrison of the Molded Fiber Glass Co. for creating onion domes
- undisclosed amount to Michael MacLeod, sculptor of elephant statues
- $1.2 million for the paving stones leading up to the Taj to Mario Paone
- $1.1 million to Marty Rosenberg for floor-to-ceiling curtain walls of glass
- $3.9 million owed to John Millar, marble supplier
- more than $500,000 owed to landscaper Herman Caucci
- $580,000 owed to Frank Lundy for overseeing construction clean-up
- $232,000, George Jenkins, the bathroom partition man who had to lay off his brother
The contractor who made the Taj's eye-catching onion domes claimed $2 million in losses. The contractor who supplied the Carrara marble from Italy ended up filing for personal bankruptcy. The contractor who put in the bathroom partitions had to lay off his brother.
Marty Rosenberg, who was installing floor-to-ceiling curtain walls of glass, was owed $1.1 Million.
State Of New Jersey
Competing Atlantic City Casinos
Although the Trump Taj Mahal was deeply in debt and filed for bankruptcy, thus leading to Trump losing many of his assets, Atlantic City continued to boast huge revenues. By the early 2000s, revenues hit $4 billion.
Trump’s reign in Atlantic City came to an end in 2004, when his consolidated company Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts filed for bankruptcy, with Trump resigning as chairman.
Cached
Many other Atlantic City casinos' revenues saw constant growth throughout Trump’s public battle against bankruptcy. These revenues would only see a decline following the 2008 recession.