Atlantic City Casinos Gear Up to Host On-Site Gamblers Post-Covid

The degree of success achieved by Atlantic City's nine casinos in regaining the level of business they enjoyed before the pandemic will go a great way toward deciding the nature of the year 2023 for the NJ resort town.

A long-awaited water park that will be open all year round right adjacent to the Showboat hotel is one of the major new projects that are scheduled to debut this year. Plans also include substantial entertainment, lodging, and dining projects at a number of the city's casinos.

There are still significant concerns hanging over the city, such as the possibility of competing development plans for the land formerly occupied by Bader Field Airport. There is also the question of whether or not the state government would pass a measure to prohibit smoking in Atlantic City casinos. It is still unclear how these plans will affect NJ online casinos.

Bob McDevitt, president of Local 54 of the Unite Here union, which is the city's primary casino employees union, said, "I'm looking forward to the new year; we're past covid now." "Our industry has survived that, and with that kind of momentum growing, it could be a good year for the residents of the city and for the casinos."

The most important objective for Atlantic City's casinos is to restore their revenue from live, in-person gamblers to pre-recession levels or higher, whichever comes first, and then exceed those levels. 

The casinos brought in a total of $2.56 billion from gamblers who were physically present at the establishments throughout the first 11 months of 2022. This figure is higher than the $2.47 billion that was brought in during the same period in 2019, before the epidemic.

The following casinos have announced their renovation plans;

• Caesars Entertainment is leading the way by adding new restaurants, hotels, and entertainment facilities at its three Atlantic City casinos in 2023. This will assist many casinos to achieve their goal of surpassing their pre-covid levels of revenue.
• Resorts will be reinvesting a minimum of $10 million in hotel and casino floor enhancements;
• Hard Rock aims to spend $30 million on live entertainment in the new year;
• Golden Nugget will begin a multimillion-dollar refurbishment of its hotel rooms and facilities;
• Ocean will commit $15 million to make improvements to seven more hotel floors in addition to constructing a private helipad.
• Borgata has also planned expenditures related to its forthcoming 20th anniversary, although these plans have not yet been made public.

By the time Memorial Day rolls around, the Showboat Hotel anticipates opening an indoor water park that will cost one hundred million dollars. However, there are still reasons to be concerned about the situation.

Expert on the Atlantic City casino market Jane Bokunewicz from Stockton University warned that the sector may be facing substantial headwinds in the first quarter of 2023 due to the confluence of a normally sluggish seasonal time and broader economic worries.

She also noted the possibility of a slowdown in the rate of growth of income from on-premises gambling and the possibility of a reduction in the revenue growth rate from online gambling.

Giannantonio, who is also the head of the New Jersey Casino Association, argues that the industry’s economy must recover before smoking bans can be implemented.

He recently stated in a public forum, "We have to stabilize the industry." "If you eliminate smoking, we are going to have a pretty significant and immediate downturn. There is a time for eliminating smoking -- I'm not sure it's right now."