Posted on 12/22/2013 4:40:30 PM PST by RKBA Democrat
With the closure of the recent Atlantic Club Casino Hotel, rumors of the bankrupt Revel being sold to Hard Rock, Las Vegas real estate prices remaining depressed, 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 2006 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 state of Nevada owe more than their homes are worth.
One local bought his condo in 2006 for $209,000, and as of 2013 it is worth barely $60,000.
As Las Vegas moved to market itself 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.
I was amazed in Ohio when they ran the campaign to “legalize gambling” that their campaign was pretty much that adults should be able to gamble if they want to, and they don’t need a bunch of religious prudes telling them they can’t.
By “legalized” they meant giving 3 or 4 rich businesses the right to build casinos in our 3 or 4 largest cities.
When clear-thinking people tried to say, “OK, then let’s legalize adult gambling!” the media shills and plants for the state and the casinos went ballistic. Advocates of true legalized gambling were — this is the truth — called “anti-gambling pro-nanny staters.”
Nice pic of Las Vegas
Agree with your observations. I don’t see Vegas going belly up either. Even though I didn’t enjoy my last trip much, it was packed with people. Next time I go I’ll make it a point to get off the Strip and explore a bit more.
I have no use for the casinos here in Michigan either. They’re nothing but a source of lobbying money to crush the little guys. They were the primary source of money pushing for our smoking ban in bars yet made sure the law excluded businesses over 10,000 square feet.
The basic idea behind Atlantic City -- "Luxury casino resort and crime-infested urban slum, on the same island" hasn't worked anywhere, AFAIK. The only real solution to Atlantic City's problems is Reese Palley's -- bulldoze it, and start it over.
Over the years, we would say “hey, we haven’t been to Atlantic City in a really long while”, forgetting why, and on the next good weekend we head down to Atlantic City for the day.
Then, during the course of our visit, increasingly as the day went on, we’d rediscover that we really did not like Atlantic City at all, and we’d leave shortly thereafter.
Why we got “Atlantic City amnesia” from time to time, for a number of times (but no more) I never figured out, but eventually it stopped and we remembered not to go again, not to experience the same disappointment we always felt on our trips there.
The hypocrisy of politicians is stunning, and it's out in the wide open for people to see, but they go on voting with these idiotic ideas anyway. I'm at the point where "they get what they deserve" is really my thinking.
In Ohio you can't smoke in bars, but you can in private clubs. I expected the bars to rebrand as clubs with open enrollment. I haven't really monitored it.
At the little place my son used to play music, they enclosed their porch, added heat, and now "going outside to smoke" is simply going to "the porch". I have no idea why that passes muster, but it does.
I’ve always thought that if I went to Las Vegas, I would be struck by lightning. It just seems like a city that celebrates sin. Not that I am against gambling per se, but everything about Las Vegas seems to promote sin of one type or another.
Well, Nevadans, looks like ol’ Harry ain’t gonna’ be able to help you.
“I’ve always said the way to destroy the billion dollar indian casino tax dodge is to have govt casinos everywhere”
That’s another reason why the best bands you thought were extinct show up at big Indian casinos. I saw Pat benatar, Journey, Psychedelic Furs, Chicago etc at the Indian casinos in Socal no joke. From what was told to me, there is a tax loophole for artists to perform so they’re not embarrassed at all about the venue.
Winthrop Rockefeller, one of the first RINOs, closed down Hot Springs.
Vegas won’t shut down, but the casinos will rotate.
I love Wynn’s Encore. Clean, classy and hot waitresses.
I thought I was the only one. Probably it's all the racket and flashing lights -- can only take so much of that.
I went to Vegas about 8 years ago.
I used to go on a ski trip every year. I got a connecting flight into Vegas at the same price as a direct. A hotel one block off the strip for $35. I had The Excalibur right across the street. I think a shuttle to and from the airport was $5 each way.
I work in construction. So I was interested in seeing the different hotels. I had watched many shows on the Travel Channel (when the Travel Channel was actually about travel) about Vegas.
I stepped off the plane and the BLATANT materialism hit me like a punch in the face. So I get my bags and get the shuttle. I'm on the shuttle and a friend calls. I told him I was in Vegas BUT ALREADY regretting it. 1/2 hour there and already looking to leave. Everywhere you looked, it was like giant tvs, with commercials, bothing but commercials, 24 hours a day. Stayed in my hotel room for a few hours watching real tv. Went to dinner about 1 mile away. GREAT STEAK dinner for $5.95. Donated $17 to the cause while waiting for my table. ($17 trying to force myself to TRY and have a good time.) Walked down the strip and checked out the Bellagio fountains and The Venetian and Ceasars. Went back to the hotel and watched tv. Couldn't wait for my flight the next afternoon.
It might have been different if I wasn't by myself. But I usually don't have a problem being by myself anywhere. Maybe...MAYBE... I might go back, if I went with a group of like valued people with the hopes of seeing some shows. Other people, so I can focus on having a good time with THEM and not being overwhelmed with the blatant in your face EVERYTHING in Vegas.
It's got a GREAT drag strip and NASCAR track.
Although I haven't been there in quite a while, I doubt that your $5.95 steak dinner is offered any longer. From what I hear, the days of cut-rate prices for food and drink are long gone.
Yup, they call it "Sin City" just for that reason ;-)
My one time there, (less than 24 hours) I've tried to figure why EXACTLY I hated it. You description was close to what I felt, but not quite. It wasn't QUITE a promotion of EVERYTHING sinful (though many sinful things seemed on display). I guess what I felt was EXTREME GLUTONY. Not gluttony from food, though that was possible. But just over indulgence in EVERYTHING. There was no subtlety in ANYTHING.
EVERYTHING was over the top and in your face.
There was no contentment to be found, because why be content with this, no matter how good the this maybe, when you could have MORE, MORE, MORE!!!
Let's see, Nellis AFB was another reason it grew. The future job growth over the next ten years because of Nellis is predicted to be 25.92%. Also, many conventions of the most successful trade unions, government programs, successful businesses and business organizations and more will be reasons it will survive.
Las Vegas Advisor still has it listed on their Top 10 list.
#3-$7.99 Steak Dinner at Ellis Island
There is also a shrimp cocktail for $1.49 at Skyline and a $0.75 hotdog at Southpoint.
Just go to Lasvegasadvisor.com, you can find all types of deals.
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