Or that Showboat has been sold to Richard Stockton College to be used as a satellite campus. Consider the fact that that Revel, built for $2.4 billion, is being sold off to Brookfield Asset Management for $110 million (assuming Brookfield does not reneg). It leaves you wondering what went wrong rather than what might go right. Like missing teeth on a once-good-enough mouth, the casinos Revel, Trump Plaza, Showboat and Atlantic Club are now black spaces on the boardwalk. Sandwiched between the alluring beacons of AC, pockets of darkness hover. These days, a nocturnal ride on the Atlantic City Expressway feels a little grim. If you needed a gambling fix and lived within driving distance, AC felt robust enough to satisfy. It wasn’t Vegas, but for those in the northeast, it also wasn’t a five-hour plane ride either. Along with the faux exotic font of Taj Mahal, they all augured action.
Bright lights signaled proximity to Caesars, Bally’s and Tropicana in candy-colored red. But its familiar, shimmering casino logos still managed to trigger the buzzy anticipation of high-stakes risk and an impending, if unlikely, opportunity to bring down the house. Viewed from the distance of a highway, Atlantic City’s skyline never exactly inspired awe.
