For more than 20 years, Rob Mayer manned the front doors of some of Atlantic City’s biggest casino hotels, greeting gamblers, carting bags and getting hefty tips. He loved his job and never imagined working anywhere else.
Mr. Mayer spent most of his career at Bally’s, but when he heard about plans for a $2.4-billion (U.S.) resort called Revel, he jumped at the chance to work there and earn $20 an hour. The new job didn’t last long. Revel shut its doors in September, a little more than two years after it opened. And it’s not the only casino to go down. Three others have also closed this year amid a stunning downturn in the city’s gambling business.
“It was going to be my retirement job,” Mr. Mayer says as he passes time in a union hall. “It was a great opportunity to make a lot of money.”
For decades, Atlantic City was an Eastern beacon for fun and games, a resort town that came to be known for its gleaming boardwalk lined with flashy casinos that rivalled those in Las Vegas. This is where the Miss America Pageant began, where stars like Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby came to play and where the board game Monopoly was invented using the city’s street names like Boardwalk and Park Place.
Today, the city is a shadow of that glorious past. Gambling revenue has fallen by nearly half in the past seven years. Just eight casinos are left, and one, the Trump Taj Mahal, is teetering. Nearly 8,000 jobs have vanished with the casino closings and many neighbourhoods are lined with abandoned homes.
Now the city is counting on a Canadian company to help turn things around. A subsidiary of Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management Inc. is buying Revel for just $110-million, part of a push Brookfield is making into the casino business. It’s a risky bet.
Revel was supposed to help reinvent Atlantic City when it opened. While other establishments made the casino the focal point of their venue, gambling almost seemed like an afterthought at Revel. Instead it tried to offer a new level of luxury and celebrity with a 32,000-square-foot spa and four shows by Beyoncé to kick off the grand opening. Its sleek 47-storey glass structure stood out as a symbol of sophistication amid the bright lights and kitsch along the boardwalk. But now the building sits empty, an imposing derelict of failed dreams.
Just how Brookfield might turn around Revel’s fortunes remains to be seen. Brookfield’s deal for the resort hasn’t closed, and company officials have yet to spell out their plans. That means people like Mr. Mayer can only wait and hope that the Canadians will succeed where so many others have failed. Some of his former colleagues have packed up and headed to Las Vegas. He is staying put.
“I’m waiting for Revel to reopen and once it reopens hopefully I’ll be re-employed there,” he says.
