Voices: In Atlantic City, the gold's turning to sand

Rick Hampson | USA TODAY





ATLANTIC CITY — When casino gambling came to this fading beach resort four decades ago, it looked like salvation. "The sand's turning to gold,'' observed a character in the Bruce Springsteen song named after the city.

Now the process is reversing itself.

The city's prospects this summer are the grimmest since 1978, when the first major legalization of casino gambling outside Las Vegas rescued what was becoming a slum by the sea.

Atlantic City is famous for innovations like the Boardwalk (1870), the amusement pier (1882) and salt water taffy (circa 1883). It hosted the first in 1921 and the Democratic National Convention in 1964. The names of its very streets are immortalized on the Monopoly board.

By the end of last summer, however, it didn't seem things could get any worse. Two of the 12 casinos had closed, and gaming revenues continued to shrink in the face of competition from an ever-growing number of casinos in nearby states.

But Atlantic City always manages to surprise, for better or worse. This past off season offered plenty of the latter.

Revel, a $2 billion hotel casino that was supposed to revive Atlantic City when it opened just two years earlier, closed. It was then bought at a fire sale price by a Florida investor whose dispute over an electrical bill plunged the state's second-tallest building into darkness for three weeks before power was provisionally restored.

Revel, which New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie once called "a game-changer for Atlantic City,'' will be closed all summer, maybe longer.

Another casino, Trump Plaza, closed last September. A third, Trump Taj Mahal, filed for bankruptcy and stayed open only after an 11th-hour deal its with unions. The Caesar's unit that owns two other casinos also filed for bankruptcy.

The biggest off-season shocker was Stockton State University's purchase of the shuttered Showboat Casino Hotel for $18 million. But the school's plan to turn the place into its "Island Campus" was blocked by the Taj, which is next to the Showboat and says it doesn't want students sneaking into its casino — something that apparently didn't worry the school

In the midst of this, the Stockton president who did the deal (without running it past the State Controller's office or securing the Taj's agreement) announced plans to retire, and then went on emergency medical leave.

This has frustrated attempts by legislators to ask him: What the hell were you thinking?

In what passes here for good news, the same guy who bought the Revel has agreed to buy the Showboat (and for a while talked about running a power cable from it to neighboring Revel).

The city, facing a $400 million budget deficit and the loss of a large part of its tax base, has been placed under a state fiscal monitor and forced to lay off employees, including 80% of its parks and recreation department.

About 8,000 casino or hotel employees have lost their jobs, spreading the misery across South Jersey.

This all is bad news for Christie, the could-be Republican presidential candidate who tied himself to A.C.'s revival. Now even he seems to accept the inevitability of at least one casino in North Jersey, ending this city's in-state monopoly.

Fourth of July, traditionally the biggest weekend of the season, promises to be less than celebratory this year, at least if you remember the glory days.

People will fill A.C.'s Steel Pier at dusk to watch fireworks explode over the water. But it's hard to see how America's first great beach resort, which survived the advent of air conditioning, jet travel and the backyard swimming pool, can come back this time.

Hampson is a national reporter for USA TODAY