Can Revel Save Atlantic City?

The state of New Jersey collects hundreds of millions of dollars in gambling taxes each year, but its one and only gambling destination, Atlantic City, is now surrounded by competition. Pennsylvania opened the first of its casinos in 2006 and since then, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, and New York have added casinos. Atlantic City’s gaming revenues have fallen every year since.

Enter Revel, the über-luxury hotel and casino with state backing and $241 million in tax credits, which will have its official premiere the last weekend in May. By virtue of being the shiniest, newest casino, Revel is likely to do well for itself, but with that public support comes an expectation that it will also help revitalize the rest of the city. This was the point of bringing casinos to Atlantic City in the first place, says Bryant Simon, Temple University history professor and author of Boardwalk of Dreams: Atlantic City and the Fate of Urban America. Simon says new casinos have made this promise again and again, and he doesn’t think it will work in AC’s favor this time, either. Instead, he thinks Revel will cannibalize other casinos.