ATLANTIC CITY, NJ—The closing this weekend of the Showboat and Revel casinos and the impending closing of Trump Plaza will result in the loss of nearly 6,000 jobs here and cause unprecedented short-term economic hardship.
Economists say that the closures' (Atlantic Club closed earlier this year) impact will also spill over into related industries.
"This is a massive economic body blow to Atlantic City on par with the hit to the national economy during the Great Recession," says Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics in West Chester, PA.
Alan Silver, a former casino-industry executive who teaches at Ohio University in Athens, OH, says of Atlantic City's current woes, "What we've got in Atlantic City is unprecedented. It hasn't happened before in this type of context, where they are going to shutter them up and literally can't give them away for pennies on the dollar, like Revel.”
Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian says that the Revel would likely return as a casino under a new name. He predicts the troubled property will sell for $25 million to $50 million, according to The Inquirer.
"At $50 million, it's certainly a bargain-basement price for a brand-new facility. It's finding the right buyer, meaning having the financial wherewithal, and then that buyer finding the right brand to come in and run it," Guardian says. See story in The Inquirer.
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