Showboat Casino Atlantic City To Close DoorsPoker Room Of 24 Tables Soon To Close As Well |
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It keeps getting worse for Atlantic City—and online gaming seems less and less like the savior it was advertised to be.
On Thursday, it was revealed that Caesars Entertainment will close its Showboat Hotel and Casino, according to Press of Atlantic City. More than 2,000 workers will lose their jobs.
A date has not yet been announced.
“The fact that Caesars would close a casino that continues to be profitable…is a criminal act upon the citizens of Atlantic County,” the president of Unite HERE Local 54 told Press of Atlantic City after finding out that an official announcement would come Friday.
According to the report, Showboat, which opened 27 years ago, reported to the state that it generated around $2 million in gambling gross operating profit for the first quarter of 2014. That figure was around a 77-percent decline compared to the first quarter of 2013.
Showboat’s closing is the second closing of the year. In January, the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel went by the wayside. Around 1,600 people lost their jobs in that event.
In May, Caesars did say that it wouldn’t rule out closing one of its four properties in Atlantic City. “These markets can reach points when no new supply is indeed the right answer,” CEO Gary Loveman said during a conference call. “In some cases reducing supply is the right answer.”
Gaming revenues for Atlantic City as a whole have been on the decline since 2006. Many cite casinos in neighboring states—especially Pennsylvania—as the reason why fewer people gamble in Atlantic City than before. More casinos are on the way in the region.
In an effort to reverse the tumble, Garden State lawmakers legalized online gambling in February 2013, hoping that it would prevent casino closings. That has not worked. Online gaming revenues have been slow to take off, as online betting sites in New Jersey are still struggling with payment processing issues. Some financial institutions won’t process internet gambling transactions. The complete picture of why online gambling in the state has been sluggish is, however, unclear.
The Showboat going out of business could soon be followed by Revel casino, the most expensive casino ever built in a city that is quickly becoming a pit of despair. That casino is in bankruptcy for a second time, meaning it could close its doors if a buyer isn’t soon found.
Showboat’s poker room of two dozen tables is the second-smallest out of the seven brick-and-mortar card rooms in Atlantic City, according to PokerAtlas. Now, just six remain. Just four short years ago, Atlantic City was home to eight poker rooms.
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