Atlantic City: Ex-casino workers are fighting long odds as unemployment runs out and jobs are scarce

Massachusetts Governor "Slot Barns" Patrick paid Spectrum Gaming $189,000 Hard Earned Taxpayer Dollars to produce a report that promised a Gazillion jobs after construction of 3 'Super Duper Destination Resort" Casinos and a Slot Barn.

Accurate numbers from New Jersey seem had-to-come-by, yet with the closing of 4 active, functioning 'Casinos,' the EMPLOYMENT NUMBERS don't seem close to Spectrum's projections.

Those Gambling Gurus will tell ya that projections are difficult....are they really?

Nearly 4,000 people initially filed for unemployment benefits from just the three casinos that closed in August and September: Showboat, Revel and Trump Plaza. The Atlantic Club closed in January 2014.

VIDEO ON LINK

Ex-casino workers are fighting long odds as unemployment runs out and jobs are scarce

Kristi Hance needs a full-time job.

Nearly nine months after the boardwalk casino where she worked as a poker dealer closed its doors, she still doesn't have one. Hance said she works during tournaments at another casino in Atlantic City, but those competitions are only held five times a year.

"I need something that's more steady," she said. "Right now, I don't even know what I am. I'm just temporary-ish."

After a year in which four of Atlantic City's 12 casinos shuttered, eliminating roughly 8,000 jobs in a region with double-digit unemployment rates, Hance said she sees no future for herself in the gaming industry. She said she hopes to move into a new career, possibly in the medical field, but for now she's fighting to cover her expenses.

"It's a struggle every day because bills are going up and now we all lost our jobs. I mean there's thousands of us, there's not thousands of jobs here in the city," the former Showboat employee said.

"Now, at 49 years old, I have to go start all over again and learn something new."

"We're all just scrambling to get something," she said.

Though some of the people who lost their jobs last year found jobs out of state or in one of the remaining Atlantic City casinos, others like Hance remain without full-time work. Their savings are dwindling. Their unemployment benefits are exhausted. Their futures are unsettled in a state where the long-term jobless rate is among the highest in the nation.

A group of those workers, including Hance, gathered in a classroom at Atlantic Cape Community College in Atlantic City last week, looking for a way to move forward with the help of a state-run program funded with a $29 million National Emergency Grant from the federal labor department.

The program, which launched in March, provides workers impacted by the casino closings with services to help find a job or train for a new career.

Janice DeCicco Fipp, the director of the National Emergency Grant at Atlantic Cape Community College, led the morning session, during which she provided tips on building resumes, writing cover letters and recasting past experience in a way that would attract potential employers.

"The name of the game and the major goal is full-time employment," she said. "You need that full-time job."

Kerri Gatling, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development, said up to 4,000 displaced workers may be helped through the grant that is "designed to prepare individuals with the skills needed by employers in the region." As of last Wednesday, Gatling said, nearly 900 people have attended orientation and eligibility sessions for the Atlantic City

Reemployment initiative.

Of those people, she said, 276 have joined the training program and 85 entered english language or adult basic education classes. Gatling could not immediately provide the number of people who have found full-time jobs.

Video: Atlantic City Re-employment Session for out of work casino workersAtlantic City Re-employment Session for out of work casino workers. After the closing of four casinos in Atlantic City last year put thousands of people out of work. With $29 million in federal emergency grant funding, the state Department of Labor has been working to find jobs for those workers. This particular session teaches a group of unemployed workers how they can recast their experience in the casino to attract potential employers. (Video by William Perlman | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

Barry Avila, 61, of Hammonton, said he worked for casinos in Atlantic City for more than 30 years, most recently as a stage technician for Revel Casino Hotel.

Avila, who attended the orientation session last week, said he's been looking for jobs since he was laid off, but he described the process as "terrible, especially in my area of expertise."

With his unemployment benefits tapped out, Avila said he's living off his savings for now.
Avila said he is "getting by right now but I don't know how long that's going to last. Maybe another month or two, tops. If I don't find something, I don't know what's going to happen."

Nearly 4,000 people initially filed for unemployment benefits from just the three casinos that closed in August and September: Showboat, Revel and Trump Plaza. The Atlantic Club closed in January 2014.

Data from the state Labor Department show roughly 600 people were still claiming unemployment benefits from those three properties earlier this month but that was expected to end for roughly half of those people in May.

At the Community Food Bank of New Jersey's southern branch, director Evelyn Benton said "we saw an immediate rise in the need for emergency food assistance in September and then it's been sort of gradually growing since."

Initially, Benton said many of the former casino workers made too much money to qualify for government food assistance so the agency solicited money to help purchase food for those individuals.

"Now that they are losing unemployment benefits," she said, "they are becoming full-fledged clients."

Kelly Johnson of Atlantic City said she was a "day one employee" of Trump Plaza and worked for 30 years in the facilities department as a groundskeeper. She lost her job with the casino when it closed in September.

Johnson said she's been on interviews that her union helped arrange but "with so many others that have been laid off. It's just rough." She said her unemployment benefits ended this month.

Though Johnson said she was conservative with her money and started saving more when she found out the casino was planning to close, the uncertainty about when she may again find work is prompting her to look for help in ways she never thought she would need.

"I've never been on welfare in my life. I've always worked two jobs. But it's rough," she said. "So I will be seeking any way to get more money or food or something to sustain me. I don't know how long this is going to last. I don't know what is going to happen."

Johnson said she hoped to find employment again in groundskeeping or maintenance work but said "I
will take any job that is a decent paying job that I can survive on."

She said she wants that new job to be near Atlantic City, the town where she was born and raised and still lives today.

"I got sand in my shoes. I don't want to leave. I love Atlantic City," she said. "I love my city and I have hope. I have hope. I still want it to be 'Do AC' not 'Done AC.'"



http://www.nj.com/atlantic/index.ssf/2015/05/ex-casino_workers_are_fighting_long_odds_as_unemployment_runs_out_and_jobs_are_scarce.html

Nanny State Alert

Bill Kearney

Massachusetts ‘GAMING’ Future

It’s ironic how pro-casino people love to through out the ‘Nanny State’ card when it comes to my wanting lawmakers in casino states to put forth my safeguards into their gaming laws. But when casinos are having finical problems, and talk about closing, the pro-casino people are the first ones asking for government assistance.

 

Philadelphia Inquirer - August 15, 2014 - Casino workers confront Christie at town meeting

 

OCEAN CITY - Unrest spurred by a spate of upcoming casino closures in Atlantic City confronted Gov. Christie on Thursday at the Shore, as workers showed up at a town-hall-style event and demanded that Christie take action.

 

Christie, meanwhile, told the crowd in Ocean City that there was a limit to what he could do.

 

"The government can't order private businesses to do things," Christie told those gathered for the event at the Ocean City Music Pier. "And you don't want to live in a world where we do."

 

At the same time, Christie said his administration was working to find jobs for the soon-to-swell ranks of the unemployed in Atlantic City, where the number of casinos that have closed or are slated to close grew to four this week.

 

Read more athttp://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/20140815_Casino_workers_confront_Christie_at_town_meeting.html#i5BtV6xrHSPjyxtp.99

 

By Maddie Hanna, Inquirer Trenton Bureau

POSTED: August 16, 2014

 

 

 

OCEAN CITY - Unrest spurred by a spate of upcoming casino closures in Atlantic City confronted Gov. Christie on Thursday at the Shore, as workers showed up at a town-hall-style event and demanded that Christie take action.

Christie, meanwhile, told the crowd in Ocean City that there was a limit to what he could do.

"The government can't order private businesses to do things," Christie told those gathered for the event at the Ocean City Music Pier. "And you don't want to live in a world where we do."

At the same time, Christie said his administration was working to find jobs for the soon-to-swell ranks of the unemployed in Atlantic City, where the number of casinos that have closed or are slated to close grew to four this week.

On Tuesday, the $2.4 billion Revel Casino Hotel - the latest addition to the resort town, which the state helped push to completion in 2012 - announced that it would close in September, leaving an additional 3,200 workers without jobs.

The Revel announcement followed the closure of the Atlantic Club earlier this year, and news that Showboat and Trump Plaza will also close.

A number of casino workers came Thursday to Ocean City, where they heralded Christie's arrival with chants of "Save our jobs!" and "Five-year promise!" - apparently a reference to Christie's five-year revitalization plan for Atlantic City, unveiled in 2011.

Rina Rimska, a cocktail waitress for 13 years at the slated-to-close Showboat, said as she waited for Christie's arrival that workers "feel outraged. Because he hasn't done anything."

After Christie was "so eager" to promote Revel, Rimska said, "why wouldn't he speak up? At least speak up."

Christie announced Wednesday that he would convene political leaders and casino industry officials for a summit to be held Sept. 8 on the future of Atlantic City.

To some in Ocean City on Thursday, that wasn't soon enough. "If we wait two weeks, Showboat will be closed," Cindy Pemberton, who has worked at the casino for 27 years, told Christie.

Christie said state officials were working "literally every day" with private employers in Atlantic City. But "what you're asking me to do is become the CEO of Showboat," he said. "I don't want to run Showboat. I don't want to run Borgata. I don't want to run Revel. . . . I don't want to run any of them."

The administration is "trying to come up with a solution that could help you and others save your jobs," Christie told Pemberton. "That's what our goal is."

Earlier, he had told the crowd: "I'm as committed today to Atlantic City and this region of this state as I've been the last five years. For all of you who are here and concerned . . . I am plugged in. I am listening."

Thursday's event marked the latest stop on Christie's summer tour at the Shore, where the governor has been making a push for still-unspecified changes to the state pension system.

Christie, who recently announced a commission to recommend changes to the system, continued to argue that the state's pension costs, which have been growing to compensate for years of skipped payments into the system, are unsustainable.

The governor, who had agreed to make escalating payments as part of a pension-reform deal reached during his first term, backtracked on the schedule earlier this year, cutting the state's payments to fill a revenue shortfall.

On Thursday when Christie's entrance was greeted by a few shouts about pensions, he said: "If they want to yell at folks to fund their pensions, they should yell at all the governors who came before me . . . who put nothing into [the pension system]. I'm cleaning up their mess. But a mess it is."

Christie singled out health benefit costs as a problem, noting a recent study by the Pew Charitable Trusts that said the average premium for a public worker in New Jersey - $1,334 - was 39 percent higher than the national average.

As he called for a need to curb the state's costs, Christie said he wasn't attacking public workers.

"What I am saying is, we can't afford the excess," he said.

Christie again acknowledged Thursday that he is weighing a bid for president - a topic he broached after a woman in the crowd encouraged him to run, drawing applause as she told Christie, "I just want to say we need you."

"Third question in - you people are slow," he said.

Christie, who has been traveling the country as chairman of the Republican Governors Association, said he would likely decide on a run by the end of this year or the beginning of next. He called it "an enormous decision" and said "the hardest part" is weighing the effect on his four children.

"If I really believe it's right for me, my family, and our country, I'll do it," he said. "If I don't, I won't."

In response to a woman who asked a broad question on national issues, Christie issued several criticisms of President Obama, saying the president had thrown the health-care system "into complete chaos."

Christie voiced support for "significant" tax reform on the national level, saying too-high tax rates are to blame for companies shifting their headquarters outside the United States.

And he again faulted Obama in light of the recent influx of unaccompanied children trying to enter the United States from Mexico, saying the president "hasn't done his job" in securing the border and because "we don't have an immigration system that works."

 

http://articles.philly.com/2014-08-16/news/52850787_1_christie-showboat-casino-workers#i5BtV6xrHSPjyxtp.99

 

 

Atlantic City: The Poster Child for Predatory Gambling - You are NO DIFFERENT!

Atlantic City's Last 'Low-Roller' Casino Busts

By Victoria Bekiempis

Filed: 1/16/14 at 12:03 PM

The town is struggling to hold on even as it faces an end to its gaming monopoly. Mel Evans/Associated Press

 

 

A few miles outside Atlantic City, signs along the highway greet gamblers by talking about the people who will scrub their toilets, serve them cocktails and, more often than not, deal them losing hands.

 

“Thank you to our employees! For your dedication and service,” says one billboard for the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel. “Just the best employees in AC” the next line says. “You’re the heart and soul of this place.”

 

Five days before Christmas, the Atlantic Club told more than 1,600 employees they would soon be jobless. The Atlantic Club – the last casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey catering to the “low-rollers” – announced it would close at midnight on January 13, after 33 years in business. Many learned about their impending unemployment in the newspaper or on TV. The club gave union workers $1,500 in severance, plus pay for unused vacation days. The local union gave card-holders $20 grocery store gift cards and help filing for unemployment.

 

The shutdown of Atlantic Club will only exacerbate Atlantic City’s 15.1 percent unemployment rate, said to be the worst in the state, and has spurred whispers of more closings. Atlantic City gaming revenue has spiraled downward since 2006 – from $5.2 billion then to a $2.9 billion in 2013 – because of increased competition from neighboring states. Atlantic City, which now has just 11 casinos, down from 13 at its peak, is also running out of time to maintain its gaming monopoly in New Jersey. In 2010, Governor Chris Christie gave Atlantic City until 2014 to reverse its decline before he’d consider allowing gaming elsewhere in the state. Christie’s initiatives to revive the boardwalk by making it a family-friendly destination have mostly been a bust.

 

At Wonder Bar, a restaurant off the boardwalk that bills itself as the dining destination for locals, employees gathered Sunday night to bid each other a final goodbye. Many told Newsweek they weren’t in a position to hit the ground running with regard to the job search because, what jobs? A casino in Maryland hosted a a few job fairs the week before the closing, but only a few dozen people got work. Besides, who has the money to move?

 

Worse, they said, is that one of the things that helped keep the casino afloat – its close-knit, comfortable, unchanging atmosphere attracted loyal regulars – makes its closing all the more dire for the community. Atlantic Club felt so familial, employees said, because so many families worked there, meaning entire households are out of work.

 

One married couple, who like most didn’t want their names used for fear of jeopardizing their chances of getting new jobs, told Newsweek they didn’t have a plan, or even a plan about how to come up with a plan for finding work.

 

The man, 60, who’d worked at the casino for 20 years, took small sips of beer as he explained that they would file for unemployment the next day and apply for food stamps. They had two adult sons, also out of work, to support, along with three granddaughters and a daughter-in-law. “We have to provide for our kids,” his wife, 57, said. “I don’t know how I’m going to do it.”

 

Their extended family isn’t in much of a position to help them, either. The man’s 65-year-old sister recently lost her grocery store job; though rehired elsewhere, she now makes 30 percent less. Another sister’s husband, who made ball bearings, lost his job when the company moved to the South. His twin brother’s wife, a teacher’s assistant, lost her job, too. Another sister (he’s from a big Irish family, he explained) lost the same job twice. His youngest sister’s husband, who made plastic parts for doors, lost his job when it was shipped to another country.

 

“My father always told me, ‘Life isn’t fair,” the man said, taking another swig.

Several blocks away, back on the boardwalk, things seemed almost normal at the Atlantic Club, which would be bolting the doors in a few hours. Sure, the club’s restaurants had run out of food that afternoon and customers, scurrying to use their comp dollars, drank the Dizzy Dolphin bar dry, but the casino floor buzzed and blinked busily, as if midnight would never come. 

 

One woman at a baccarat table – who was down about $15,000 at 11:30 – wanted to keep playing despite the time. She shouted and mumbled something about wanting her money back, or at least the opportunity to win it back. A pit boss standing behind the dealer joked: “I don’t have any money! I’m unemployed!” and a few moments later, a security guard escorted the woman off the floor.

 

With her exit, the feverish frenzy typical for a casino – even an ailing one– seemed to deflate. Just before midnight, those present counted down from five, with some singing “Auld Lang Syne.” The staff charged with seeing the shutdown through then collected and counted all the chips one last time.

 

Dealers, faces twisted and glistening with tears, hugged each other tightly. Some staff skipped into what seemed to be an area set aside for high-rollers, asking a cop to snap one last photo of them together, their broad smiles belying the mood in the room.

 

As stragglers and observers were corralled out the door and onto the sidewalk, some dawdled in the hotel’s main hall, while others plucked plants from their pots before leaving stepping out into the frigid night.

 

The mirrors and columns and brass in the lobby spoke to the Atlantic Club’s bygone opulence – when Frank Sinatra was on the marquee, not the struggling commuter casino trying to lure slots jockeys with free parking.

 

 

http://www.newsweek.com/atlantic-citys-last-low-roller-casino-busts-226283

 

 

GAMING CANDLE was lit on both ends.....

Bill Kearney

Massachusetts ‘Gaming’ Future

On May 26, 1978 Resorts International opened the first casino in Atlantic City. This was the first expansion of commercial Gaming outside of Nevada. It was also the day the GAMING CANDLE was lit on both ends, and today it’s near to being burned out in every way.

The Associated Press - January 13, 2014 - Newly jobless NJ casino workers try to cope...

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) - At a minute past midnight, Debra Wagner was suddenly unemployed.

A housekeeper for 23 years at the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel, she was one of 1,600 workers who lost their jobs early Monday when the struggling casino shut down, the victim of a glut of casinos in the northeastern U.S.

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20140113_ap_69bbc42dfb8044ada2e30c585a404de7.html#MClEXw2dZvewdLkk.99

 

 

 

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) - At a minute past midnight, Debra Wagner was suddenly unemployed.
A housekeeper for 23 years at the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel, she was one of 1,600 workers who lost their jobs early Monday when the struggling casino shut down, the victim of a glut of casinos in the northeastern U.S.

Just a few hours after a handful of remaining customers and last-shift workers counted down the casino's final five seconds, Wagner stood in line with hundreds of others at a union hall, hoping to score a $20 supermarket gift card and some help in filling out unemployment paperwork.

"I had planned to retire here," she said. "Right now I'll collect unemployment, and maybe in the spring somebody will start hiring. Hopefully."


But that seemed unlikely. With casinos popping up in states all around it, the Atlantic Club fell victim to the cold efficiency of the marketplace: Analysts have long said that in this region, there are too many casinos and not enough gamblers to keep them all afloat.

Two rival casino companies paid a combined $23.4 million to shut down the Atlantic Club and remove what they considered unneeded capacity from the market. Tropicana Entertainment bought the slot machines, table games and customer lists, while Caesars Entertainment bought an 801-room hotel it has no immediate plans for.

Wagner can't even turn to family for help.

"Both my sisters worked there, and so did my mom," she said. "We're all out of jobs, all four of us. We can't even help each other."

Once Atlantic City's top-earning casino, where then-owner Steve Wynn clowned with Frank Sinatra in commercials, bringing the legendary singer an armful of fresh towels, the Atlantic Club went out with a whimper. In the hours before the 12:01 a.m. closing, its restaurants and bars had all shut down, and many gamblers and employees had already left.

A few die-hards that stayed on the casino floor until the end, counting down its final five seconds as dealers who were suddenly unemployed burst into tears and hugged each other. Within moments, casino staff began stacking and counting chips and preparing to remove cash boxes from the casino floor.

"Where was our support?" asked Kathy Buonasorte, a cocktail server for 28 of the casino's 33 years.

"They all left us. No politician helped us. No one came to save us."

On the sidewalk outside the casino, she hugged fellow server Beth DeLuccia, who she described as the first friend she made at the casino. Nearby, server Maureen Cohen had just finished her final shift.

"I served my last drink at 4 this afternoon," she said. "It was incredibly sad. Can you believe how pathetic it's going to be to come over (a nearby) bridge and see a closed casino?"

"It's a sad day," said David Rebuck, director of the state Division of Gaming Enforcement, who watched the shutdown process begin right after midnight. Dealers and security personnel set to work counting the take from the casino's final day. Overnight, workers were to read the meter on each of the hundreds of slot machines, empty the cash containers and secure them in the counting room. At some point on Monday, armored cars were to remove the remaining cash.

The hotel's safe deposit boxes had been emptied hours before the shutdown as the final hotel guests checked out, and front-desk cashier drawers were already removed, leaving gaping holes.

By Wednesday, crews from the Tropicana will begin removing the slot machines and table games.

The casino floor will be bare by the end of the month, Rebuck said.

Guests helped themselves to souvenirs as well, digging up or ripping out potted plants and even six-foot-tall trees from planters on their way out the door.

It was the first casino closure in Atlantic City since the Sands shut down in 2006. But that was intended to make way for a bigger, better casino that Pinnacle Entertainment planned, but never actually built.

Struggling for years against newer, bigger casinos in Atlantic City and in neighboring states, the Atlantic Club sought a buyer for the last few years but was unable to attract one. It filed for bankruptcy in November.

Its owners, Colony Capital LLC, a Los Angeles hedge fund, paid more than a half billion dollars for it in 2005.

New Jersey's Addiction to Gambling Revenues

Casino Gambling NEVER paved the streets with Gold in Atlantic City, yet New Jersey is desperately ADDICTED to Gambling Revenues, even though Predatory Gambling has left poverty, homelessness and slums behind. 

Why would anyone believe it's ANY different elsewhere?

Why would Massachusetts delude themselves that somehow 'we can do it right'?










Taking census of the homeless living under the Atlantic City Boardwalk:

'14 starts ominously for NJ casinos as gov watches

Sunday, December 29, 2013

 

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — The new year is a crucial one for Atlantic City's future, and 2014 won't start auspiciously.

 

This is the fourth year of a five-year grace period New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has given the seaside gambling resort to turn around its struggling fortunes before considering expanding casinos to other parts of the state — something casino executives fear will decimate the already wobbly market.

 

And it will begin with the closing of one of the city's 12 casinos, the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel, which is shutting its doors on Jan. 13, the victim of a takedown in bankruptcy court. Two national gambling companies with casinos in Atlantic City, Tropicana Entertainment and Caesars Entertainment, are paying a combined $23.4 million for the business, and the right to strip it for parts and close it down.

 

Tropicana is taking the slot machines, table games and customer lists, while Caesars is getting the property and its 801-room hotel. Neither has any desire to operate the casino in the now diminished Atlantic City market.

 

In remarks made the day before the Atlantic Club closing was announced, Christie said 2014 is time for Atlantic City to start putting up measurable results.

 

"It's obviously a critical year because we need to begin to see progress in Atlantic City or we're going to start considering alternatives," he said. That means considering the once-unthinkable: allowing casinos at the Meadowlands sports complex in northern New Jersey and possibly elsewhere in the state. Currently, state law restricts casino gambling to Atlantic City, along the state's southern coast.

 

"It's a year when we have to show some significant results," Christie said.

 

The state legislature wants to approve a commission to study the impact of gambling at the Meadowlands.

 

"Frankly, New Jersey's gaming industry in Atlantic City is at a crossroads," Tony Rodio, president of the Tropicana Casino and Resort and head of the Casino Association of New Jersey, wrote in a letter to state lawmakers earlier this month opposing the gambling expansion study.

 

He cited private investment in nongambling attractions like the Steel Pier amusement park, the Margaritaville restaurant and entertainment complex, and the downtown outlet shops; a five-year, $150 million casino-funded advertising and "Do AC" re-branding campaign; and the state-run tourism district focusing additional police and sanitation efforts along the Boardwalk, beach, shopping and marina areas. That progress will be jeopardized if investors think cheaper, convenience-based casinos will pop up in other places.

 

Many casino workers and outside observers fear the Atlantic Club closing could be the first of several in a resort that analysts have long said has too many casinos to support in a shrinking Northeast gambling market. Wayne Schaffel, a former Atlantic City casino publicist in the 1980s, sees more of the same on the horizon, particularly with rival companies preying on weaker competitors.

 

"It is very likely that this same strategy will be used to take out Trump Plaza, perhaps the Golden Nugget and maybe even the Showboat," he said. "It will undoubtedly shore up the balance sheets for the remaining 8 to 11 properties, but it will also take out anywhere from 1,500 to 3,000 rooms. At the end of the day, the winners will be the few remaining casino companies. The losers will be the thousands of employees who lose their jobs; the state, which will suffer from ever lower revenue and taxes, and Atlantic City itself."

 

And the $2.4 billion Revel Casino Hotel could be sold or make a second bankruptcy filing this year.

 

This will be the first full year of Internet gambling in New Jersey, which the state launched in late November to provide another source of revenue for the casinos. The big question is whether it brings in new money or just diverts it away from spending at the brick-and-mortar casinos. Nearly 110,000 online gambling accounts have been created in New Jersey thus far; the first Internet gambling revenue report will be issued in two weeks.

 

The state should also decide this year whether to try to take its thus-far unsuccessful effort to overturn a federal ban on sports betting to the U.S. Supreme Court.

 

Liza Cartmell, head of the Atlantic City Alliance which markets the resort, said Christie should grant a one-year extension of his deadline for an Atlantic City turnaround, noting that the lingering effects of Superstorm Sandy in Oct. 2012 set back tourism in Atlantic City and much of the Jersey shore by more than a year. She also said continuing investment in non-casino attractions proves the resort has a future.

 

"There are people who believe this island, this magical place, is a gem," she said. "It's very rough but it's continuing to be polished. It just needs some time."

 

http://bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2013/12/14_starts_ominously_for_nj_casinos_as_gov_watches

 

 

N.J. judge approves shutdown of Atlantic City casino

By Wayne Parry

| Associated Press December 24, 2013



Analysts link the liquidation of the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel to the proliferation of gambling destinations.

CAMDEN, N.J. — A slowdown brought on by the rapid proliferation of casino gambling in the Northeast claimed its first victim in New Jersey on Monday when a federal bankruptcy judge approved the sale and shutdown of the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel in Atlantic City.

The casino, which opened in 1980 as the Golden Nugget and featured then-owner Steve Wynn bringing fresh towels to Frank Sinatra in its commercials, will shut its doors Jan. 13.

Judge Gloria Burns approved a deal that was reached Friday. Two rival casino companies with a presence in Atlantic City, Tropicana Entertainment and Caesars Entertainment, will buy the casino for $23.4 million, essentially strip it for parts and shut it down. The Tropicana will take the slot machines and table games, while Caesars will get the hotel.

Neither has any interest in operating the business in Atlantic City’s now diminished market. Atlantic City will have 11 casinos after the shutdown.

 

Competition is a fact of life now for Atlantic City’s casinos, said David Rebuck, director of the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.

The Atlantic Club thus became the first Atlantic City casino to close due to the downward spiral touched off seven years ago by the arrival of casinos in neighboring Pennsylvania, which for the first time will now have more casinos (12) than Atlantic City.

‘‘Competition is nothing new for New Jersey and it will be no different in 2014,’’ Rebuck said.
In Massachusetts, lawmakers have allowed the siting of three casinos and one slots parlor. Wynn, seeking to build a casino in Everett, is competing for the state’s Greater Boston gambling license.


http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2013/12/24/judge-approves-atlantic-club-casino-shutdown/EHeJAJNe2gXkFOfTfkoqBI/story.html

 

The next Detroit? Atlantic City and Las Vegas facing catastrophic collapse

The next Detroit? Atlantic City and Las Vegas facing catastrophic collapse

Posted: Dec 21, 2013 5:04 PM ESTUpdated: Dec 23, 2013 12:54 AM EST

AP file photo/Mel Evans

• The next Detroit? Atlantic City and Las Vegas facing catastrophic collapseMore>>

• Judge approves Atlantic Club Casino shutdown

   
   
  A federal bankruptcy court judge is getting ready to decide whether the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel in Atlantic City can be shut down next month.
•  
• A federal bankruptcy court judge has approved the sale and shutdown of Atlantic City's Atlantic Club Casino Hotel. Judge Gloria Burns approved a deal Monday that was reached last week in which two rival companies, Tropicana and Caesars, will buy the casino for $23.4 million and shut it down Jan. 13.

MYFOXNY.COM - With the closure of the recent Atlantic Club Casino Hotel, rumors of the bankrupt Revel being sold to Hard Rock, more than half of the mortgages in Las Vegas under water, casinos opening up all around the country and online gambling legislation underway in various states, it seems as if the reasons for the very existence of Atlantic City and Las Vegas are in serious jeopardy.

Beginning in the late 1940s, Las Vegas became known as the 'adult playground of the world.' Celebrities knew they made the big time when their names graced the billboards of ‘Sin City.’ Gamblers hoping to make money would flock there all year and families looking for a nice getaway would enjoy relaxing by the extravagant swimming pools under the hot desert sun, seeing the various shows and concerts, and whenever possible, sneaking away to the blackjack tables while their kids slept.

It was paradise.

On the other hand, Atlantic City, once a major vacation spot during the roaring 20s and 1930s, as seen on HBOs Boardwalk Empire, collapsed when cheap air fare became the norm and people had no reason to head to the many beach town resorts on the East Coast. Within a few decades, the city, known for being an ‘oasis of sin’ during the prohibition era, fell into serious decline and dilapidation.

New Jersey officials felt the only way to bring Atlantic City back from the brink of disaster would be to legalize gambling. Atlantic City’s first casino, Resorts, first opened its doors in 1978. People stood shoulder to shoulder, packed into the hotel as gambling officially made its way to the East Coast. Folks in the East Coast didn't have to make a special trip all the way to Vegas in order to enjoy some craps, slots, roulette and more.

As time wore on, Atlantic City and Las Vegas became the premier gambling spots in the country.

While detractors felt that the area still remained poor and dilapidated, officials were quick to point out that the casinos didn't bring the mass gentrification to Atlantic City as much as they hoped but the billions of dollars in revenue and thousands of jobs for the surrounding communities was well worth it.

Atlantic City developed a reputation as more of a short-stay ‘day-cation’ type of place, yet managed to stand firm against the 'adult playground' and 'entertainment capital of the world' Las Vegas.

Through-out the 1980s and 1990s, these two places would become an integral part of American pop culture as the place to gamble and have fun no matter which coast you lived at.

However in the late 1980s, a landmark ruling considered Native-American reservations to be sovereign entities not bound by state law. It was the first potential threat to the iron grip Atlantic City and Vegas had on the gambling and entertainment industry.

 

Huge 'mega casinos' were built on reservations that rivaled Atlantic City and Vegas. In turn, Vegas built even more impressive casinos.

Atlantic City, in an attempt to make the city more appealing to the ‘big whale’ millionaire and billionaire gamblers, and in effort to move away from its ‘seedy’ reputation, built the luxurious Borgata casino in 2003. Harrah’s created a billion dollar extension and other casinos in the area went through serious renovations and re-branded themselves.

It seemed as if the bite that the Native American casinos took out of AC and Vegas’ profits was negligible and that the dominance of those two cities in the world of gambling would remain unchallenged.

Then Macau, formally a colony of Portugal, was handed back to the Chinese in 1999. The gambling industry there had been operated under a government-issued monopoly license by Stanley Ho's Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau. The monopoly was ended in 2002 and several casino owners from Las Vegas attempted to enter the market.

Under the one country, two systems policy, the territory remained virtually unchanged aside from mega casinos popping up everywhere. All the rich ‘whales’ from the far east had no reason anymore to go to Las Vegas to spend their money.

Then came their biggest threat.

As revenue from dog and horse racing tracks around the United States dried up, government officials needed a way to bring back jobs and revitalize the surrounding communities. Slot machines in race tracks started in Iowa in 1994 but took off in 2004 when Pennsylvania introduced ‘Racinos’ in an effort to reduce property taxes for the state and to help depressed areas bounce back.

As of 2013, racinos are legal in ten states: Delaware, Louisiana, Maine, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and West Virginia

Tracks like Delaware Park and West Virginia's Mountaineer Park, once considered places where local degenerates bet on broken-down nags in claiming races, are now among the wealthiest tracks around, with the best races.

The famous Aqueduct race track in Queens, NY, once facing an uncertain future, now possesses the most profitable casino in the United States.

From June 2012 to June 2013, Aqueduct matched a quarter of Atlantic City's total gaming revenue from its dozen casinos: $729.2 million compared with A.C.'s $2.9 billion. It has taken an estimated 15 percent hit on New Jersey casino revenue and climbing.

And it isn't just Aqueduct that's taking business away from them. Atlantic City's closest major city, Philadelphia, only 35-40 minutes away, and one of the largest cities in America, now has a casino that has contributed heavily to the decline in gamers visiting the area.

The situation in Vegas isn't much better. The Great Recession of the late 2000s hit Las Vegas hard. As the recession wore on, and as gambling received approval in various jurisdictions throughout the United States, folks realized they didn't need to travel thousands of miles just to gamble.

Casino revenues and the price of real estate plummeted. Unemployment went as high as 14 percent, however unofficially, local officials said it may have been as high as 30 percent.

More than half of all home owners with a mortgage in the entire state of Nevada owe more than their homes are worth.

One local bought his condo in 2006 for $209,000, and as of 2012 it was worth barely $60,000.

However, in mid 2013 housing prices started to bounce back in what many are calling a new bubble.

But according to Bloomberg.com this so-called bubble is simply from banks completing their foreclosures and holding onto inventory. The increased value of properties has been attracting various investors and speculators, which is helping fuel this latest rise in real estate prices.

Experts say once banks start releasing the foreclosed homes into the market to start selling them, the prices may begin to get depressed again.

In Las Vegas alone, more than half of properties with mortgages are still underwater, or worth less than the loans against them, according to Zillow Inc., a real estate data firm. Trendy hotels like SLS Las Vegas are set to open in 2014, in an effort to reinvent the city as purely an entertainment paradise.

One local said “The reality is, people just won’t fly to the middle of a desert to play some slots, watch shows and sit down for some blackjack when they can drive right near their town or city, or play legally online.”

And now it looks like the feds may soon allow online gambling across the United States.

Last May, the American Gaming Association called on Congress to enact federal legislation that would allow states to license and regulate online poker so Americans who play can do so safely using responsible, law-abiding operators. The Department of Justice made a decision that the Federal Wire Act only prohibits the transmission of communications relative to bets or wagers on sporting events or contests. It also clarifies that intrastate lottery tickets sold online are legal, so long as the lottery games do not involve sport wagering, even if the transmission crosses state lines.

Officials say this has opened up the possibility that online gambling may get approved on a federal level.

New Jersey is the third state in the U.S. to have authorized internet gambling. However, these online casinos are owned and controlled by Atlantic City casinos in an effort to boost profits in the face of fierce competition.

California, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Pennsylvania and Texas are hoping to join Delaware, Nevada, New Jersey and the U.S. Virgin Islands in offering online gambling to their residents.

Nevada also enacted modifications to their internet gambling law to allow for interstate compacts, among other provisions in hopes to draw higher stakes jackpots, similar to the Mega Millions and Power Ball lottery games that are played in multiple states.

With this in mind, it seems the niche that Las Vegas and Atlantic City once offered as a gambling and entertainment hub is heading toward the dustbin of history.

Time will tell if these two cities will end up like Detroit. However, the fact that they are losing their biggest industries to major competition, much like Detroit did, with depressed housing, casinos bankrupting/closing and businesses fleeing, makes their fate seem eerily similar.

 

http://www.myfoxny.com/story/24280415/the-next-detroit-atlantic-city-and-las-vegas-facing-catastrophic-collapse

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another Atlantic City Casino Files for Bankruptcy

Bankrupt NJ casino has $17.7M assets, $16.8M debts
Posted: Dec 07, 2013

By WAYNE PARRY
Associated Press

                

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) - The Atlantic Club Casino Hotel, which hopes to sell itself at a bankruptcy court auction this month, has laid out its assets and liabilities for the court.

The casino formerly known as the Atlantic City Hilton listed assets, excluding real property, of $17.1 million and liabilities of $16.8 million.

It wouldn't estimate the worth of its real property when asked by The Associated Press.
The filing was made Wednesday with the federal bankruptcy court in Camden.

The Atlantic Club has remained open since filing for Chapter 11 protection last month. The casino could be put up for auction Dec. 17, with the sale completed by March.

The sale comes months after a deal to sell the casino to the PokerStars online gambling website fell through.

http://www.myfoxphilly.com/story/24160545/bankrupt-nj-casino-has-177m-assets-168m-debts

Judge: PokerStars can't buy Atlantic Club casino

Judge: PokerStars can't buy Atlantic Club casino
By Bloomberg NewsThe Star-Ledger
on May 18, 2013

PokerStars was denied its request to keep alive a $15 million offer to purchase the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

A judge ruled yesterday in Atlantic County Superior Court against PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker site. PokerStars had agreed in December to buy the former Atlantic City Hilton as a foothold into the U.S. online gambling market. A New Jersey online gambling bill enacted on Feb. 26 requires operators to have a physical presence in the state.

Colony Capital LLC, which controls the property, declined to extend the contract with PokerStars when it expired last month, according to a court filing. PokerStars, the largest online poker site in the world, is a division of Isle of Man- based Rational Group Ltd.

Eric Hollreiser, a spokesman for PokerStars, and Cathleen Kiernan, a spokeswoman for the Atlantic Club, confirmed the judge’s decision. Rational attorney Wayne Positan didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.

Colony had difficulty selling the casino because of $30 million in unfunded pension liabilities and declining gambling in Atlantic City, according to a PokerStars lawsuit. The buyer agreed to fund operating shortfalls of as much as $750,000 a week until the deal closed.

Deal Terminated
Through those payments, Rational had put out $11 million, according to the complaint. Owners, led by Colony, terminated the deal on April 26, and have asked for the remaining $4 million of the purchase price as a termination fee, according to the complaint.

Rational said it believes Colony Capital terminated the agreement so it could sell the property for a higher price after New Jersey enacted its gambling legislation in February.

“We are reviewing today’s ruling,” Hollreiser said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. “We remain committed to New Jersey and to contributing to its economy.”

The U.S. casino industry opposes the PokerStars effort to buy the Atlantic City property. The American Gaming Association’s protest to state regulators focuses on PokerStars’ prosecution last year for bank fraud and money laundering.

“We are pleased that the New Jersey court has dissolved the restraints it entered on May 6,” Atlantic Club Chief Operating Officer Michael Frawley said in an e-mailed statement. “We are now free to build on the tremendous opportunity provided by online gaming.”

PokerStars reached an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department in July 2012, settling charges related to the company’s offering of online poker in this country.

The case is Rational Group US Holdings Inc. v. Resorts International Holdings, ATL-C-43-13, Superior Court of New Jersey, Atlantic County (Mays Landing).

http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/2013/05/pokerstars_bid_to_buy_atlantic.html

Do-It-Yourself Bankruptcy From Home

 

Online Gambling in the Garden State

By Caroline Winter on February 22, 2013

 

One by one, U.S. states are taking on the issue of whether to legalize—and cash in on—online gambling, a market that by most estimates is worth $4 billion to $6 billion, according to GamblingCompliance, which tracks the global gaming industry.

New Jersey lawmakers will vote on the issue on Feb. 26. If both houses approve, New Jersey will become the nation’s third state to legalize Internet casino games, following Nevada and Delaware.

The bill, which Governor Chris Christie recently vetoed in order to slip in a few provisions, is likely to pass. Amendments will include a 15 percent state tax of gross revenue on online gambling—up from 10 percent—and an increase in annual funding to fight compulsive gambling, from $150,000 to $250,000.   [How stingy is that?] Democratic leaders of New Jersey’s Senate and Assembly have said they will accept these terms.

At least one foreign online gambling company is already positioning itself to get in on the game. Isle of Man-based PokerStars, the world’s leading online poker site, agreed in December to buy the struggling Atlantic Club Casino Hotel in Atlantic City. Purchasing the brick-and-mortar casino, which posted a $13.6 million operating loss through the first three quarters of 2012, would give the PokerStars brand more visibility as it tries to gain a foothold in the nascent U.S. online gambling market.

For now, PokerStars is still awaiting approval of its gaming license application from the New Jersey authorities that regulate Atlantic City’s $3 billion gambling industry. Some say the company will face tough scrutiny due to its tainted history, which goes back to April 15, 2011. On that day, known in the industry as Black Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice seized PokerStars and two other foreign-based online poker sites, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker, and shut down their domains. The Department of Justice also indicted 11 men in connection with the three sites, charging them with bank fraud, money laundering, and illegal gambling offenses.

PokerStars managed to recover quickly, and in July acquired its beleaguered competitor Full Tilt. As part of the deal, PokerStars agreed to pay the U.S. government $547 million, to be used in part to reimburse former U.S. customers of Full Tilt, whose accounts have been frozen since Black Friday.

In forging the settlement, PokerStars also cleared the way to reenter the U.S. market and begin taking online bets wherever Internet gambling is legalized.

The caveat is that many states may only allow local—not foreign—companies to offer online gambling. In the wake of Black Friday, some people even speculated that the U.S. Justice Department’s move was intended to clear out foreign companies that dominate online gambling, so U.S. casinos could come in and take over. By purchasing the Atlantic City casino, PokerStars would get its foot in the door.

American online poker fans would surely welcome renewed access to the popular PokerStars and Full Tilt sites. Since Black Friday, some U.S. players have resorted to the more complicated process of gambling online using a crypto-currency called Bitcoin. Several even fled the country altogether, moving to such places as Costa Rica and Europe to maintain access to PokerStars. If the New Jersey vote goes through, as expected, PokerStars fans from across the country may soon have to travel only as far as the Garden State.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-02-22/online-gambling-in-the-garden-state

New Jersey's Desperation

In their desperation, will New Jersey approve a bargain regardless of questions?

Howard Stutz writes the weekly column

Inside Gaming, reflecting what is

happening in the industry.

 

PokerStars potential purchase of Atlantic City casino offers many questions

Posted by Howard Stutz
Friday, Dec. 07, 2012

 

The idea that online gaming giant PokerStars would buy the struggling Atlantic Club Hotel-Casino in Atlantic City brings additional intrigue into the ongoing Internet gambling legalization debate.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that PokerStars is negotiating to purchase the Boardwalk property from private equity group Colony Capital for less than $50 million.

This part is not a surprise. For that price, acquiring the casino – originally built by Steve Wynn in the 1980s as the Golden Nugget and most recently operated as the Atlantic City Hilton – is practically a steal.

One question, however, supersedes all others. Can PokerStars – which agreed to pay $731 million to the federal government in August to settle a nine-count criminal indictment – actually gain licensing approval from the ultra-strict New Jersey gaming regulators?

And, if PokerStars, which is based in Isle of Man, were to pull off this transaction, might the company attempt a similar move in Nevada?

Legal sources Friday confirmed the Wall Street Journal report and said PokerStars attorneys have spent time recently in New Jersey.

According to the newspaper, the deal hinges on New Jersey legalizing online gaming in the state where a bill is currently under debate in the legislature. If approved, gamblers would only be able to access the websites from within New Jersey’s borders and the websites would be operated by Atlantic City casinos.

PokerStars resolved its legal troubles with the U.S. Department of Justice on Aug. 1. The charges were part of the federal government’s April 15, 2011 crackdown on Internet poker in the U.S. The company and its founders were named in a nine-count indictment and were accused of bank fraud, money laundering and running an illegal gaming business.

PokerStars agreed to pay the $731 million settlement but didn’t admit to any of the allegations listed by government prosecutors. The company is also not prohibited from re-entering the U.S. gambling market. However, the PokerStars’ founder, Isai Scheinberg, remains under indictment on the various charges, has not entered the U.S., and hasn’t been arrested. The settlement called for Scheinberg to step down from any management duties with the company, which is now run by his son.

New Jersey gaming regulators all but kicked MGM Resorts International out of Atlantic City in 2010. The Division of Gaming Enforcement decided Hong Kong businesswoman Pansy Ho, MGM Resorts’ joint venture partner in Macau, was unsuitable. The ruling was primarily due to her ties with her father, controversial billionaire Stanley Ho, whose Macau casinos are alleged by international law enforcement to under the influence of Chinese organized crime triads.

Pansy Ho has never been accused of wrongdoing, nor has she ever paid a multimillion dollar fine to settle a government indictment. Pansy Ho’s business ties with MGM Resorts were also deemed suitable by gaming regulators in Nevada and Mississippi.

Fast forward two years and in Atlantic City, where gaming revenues have declined 38 percent between 2006 and 2011 and continue to fall in 2012, state regulators might be willing to take a chance on PokerStars.

A spokeswoman for New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement told the Wall Street Journal that a “rigorous investigation” would be conducted of any license applicant, including PokerStars.

That brings us back to Nevada.

Interactive gaming regulations are already in place for online poker and state regulators have licensed some 16 casino operators and technology providers. The first online poker site could go live by the spring.

Like New Jersey, Nevada’s regulations only allow companies with a traditional land-based casino to operate a website, which can only be utilized by gamblers physically located within the state’s boarders.

Is PokerStars shopping for a potentially low-priced casino in Reno or other parts of the state?

That move would continue to add more fascination to the ongoing online gaming legalization debate.

 

http://www.lvrj.com/blogs/stutz/PokerStars_potential_purchase_of_Atlantic_City_casino_.html?ref=361