Book contents
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- List of Tables and Figures
- Chronology
- Introduction
- 1 We Are for Gambling: The Pre-Casino Years and Casino Legalization
- 2 Let the Gaming Begin: A New Era for Atlantic City
- 3 A Winning Bet? Success and Struggle in the 1980s
- 4 Recession and Recovery: Turning a Casino Corner
- 5 Casino Magnets: New Immigrants and Atlantic City Opportunity
- 6 Big Visions: Competition, Consolidation and the Great Tunnel-Connector War of the 1990s
- 7 New Stylings: Finance, Retail and Challenges at the Turn of the Century
- 8 Atlantic City and the American Casino Era
- Epilogue
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
2 - Let the Gaming Begin: A New Era for Atlantic City
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- List of Tables and Figures
- Chronology
- Introduction
- 1 We Are for Gambling: The Pre-Casino Years and Casino Legalization
- 2 Let the Gaming Begin: A New Era for Atlantic City
- 3 A Winning Bet? Success and Struggle in the 1980s
- 4 Recession and Recovery: Turning a Casino Corner
- 5 Casino Magnets: New Immigrants and Atlantic City Opportunity
- 6 Big Visions: Competition, Consolidation and the Great Tunnel-Connector War of the 1990s
- 7 New Stylings: Finance, Retail and Challenges at the Turn of the Century
- 8 Atlantic City and the American Casino Era
- Epilogue
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The government economist writing about the Atlantic City area's economy in 1978 for New Jersey's Labor Department could scarcely contain the good tidings after the first casino opened (Resorts International). Casino development had brought a clear energy to the region, measured not just in terms of early, stratospheric casino revenue, but also in economic rippling through industries such as construction and transportation throughout Atlantic County. From the otherwise dreary semi-annual labour report came the exciting news:
The rapidity with which Caesar's World and the Bally Corporation developments are proceeding has added an upbeat tempo to Atlantic City. The foundations for Caesar's are complete and the steel girder superstructure has been erected to three sections high.
Things were changing along the Boardwalk, and this was for the good of the region:
Bally has demolished the Marlborough and parts of the Blenheim and Dennis hotels. Pile-driving equipment is in place and construction will start as soon as site clearance is completed. This is the first major commercial development in the city for at least two decades.
On opening day, a line to get into Resorts stretched along the Boardwalk for blocks as the casino opened with Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme headlining the entertainment. Lawrence made the first bet, a $10 play on the craps table, but did not win. That did not stop the crowd, which waited patiently in line on the Boardwalk with signs advertising ‘Waiting Time 2 Hour’ and the like, as they slowly made it into the casino. The Boardwalk line was six blocks long. Crowding was a problem for a city that only had 50,000 parking spaces, but expected 150,000 cars per day. Within six days, the casinos made a record $2.9 million. On 27 May 1978, the banner headline of the Press of Atlantic City captured the mood well with a sly double-entendre: ‘Queen of Resorts Reigns Again’. Now the action had really begun, and Atlantic City would no more be the place where, as one comedian joked in 1970, ‘Every Friday night we shop till ten at the supermarket’.
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- Gambling on the American DreamAtlantic City and the Casino Era, pp. 33 - 58Publisher: Pickering & ChattoFirst published in: 2014