Atlantic City struggles to change its image

While touting Atlantic City’s efforts to diversify its tourism offerings in a teleconference Tuesday, Mayor Don Guardian admitted that the next few weeks will be tough for a city facing the loss of another 6,000 jobs.

“People will lose jobs and that is certainly never good news,” Guardian said. He said within the next two months, he plans to open a job placement center in city hall to serve all Atlantic City residents, not just casino workers.

The loss of casino jobs has a strong impact on communities in southern Ocean County, where many casino workers live. Estimates of the number of casino employees in southern Ocean communities like Barnegat, Stafford and Little Egg Harbor range from 1,000 to more than 2,000.

The county has the second largest concentration of casino workers in the state, after Atlantic County.

As part of a new partnership with the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, workers will soon be able to train locally for new positions at Atlantic Cape Community College, and its Caesars Entertainment Wing for Hospitality and Gaming Studies. The $10 million addition to the college will train up to 1,200 employees a year.

But will there be jobs for those employees?

Three casinos — Showboat Atlantic City, Revel and Trump Plaza — are slated to close by Sept. 16. The shutdowns follow the January closure of the Atlantic Club.

All told, the four casinos account for more than 8,000 jobs, or 25 percent of the industry's employment, Bob McDevitt, president of Local 54 of UNITE-Here, the city's casino workers' union, has said. That does not count ancillary jobs in industries that provide support and supplies for the casinos, officials have said.

Gamblers could gain from Revel closure

Guardian said Tuesday that he was not aware “of anything that will change the outcome” of this weekend, when Showboat is scheduled to close on Sunday (Aug. 31), and Revel on Tuesday morning (Sept. 2).

The Associated Press reported that Caesars Entertainment, which owns Showboat, was showing the soon-to-close casino to “an interested party,” Tuesday afternoon, but wouldn’t say who it is.

Rutgers economist James W. Hughes said the contraction of Atlantic City’s casino industry has led to a loss of jobs that he termed “unprecedented” for its speed and scope.

“It’s probably unprecedented in that it’s happening in such a short time frame,” Hughes said. “It took manufacturing 30 years to halve its workforce.”

Ocean County to feel impact of casino closures

The impending closure adds to what has been an economic nightmare for the area. Even with the casinos open, the unemployment rate for the Atlantic City metropolitan area was 9.5 percent, ranking it 360 out of 372 nationwide, according to the U.S. Labor Department.

The four casinos slated to close this year are expected to cost the region more than 9,500 jobs and $259 million in spending power, according to a recent report by researchers at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey.

“When properties go dark and there are vacancies, it sends out a signal that things aren’t moving in a positive direction,” said Donald Moliver, dean of the Leon Hess Business School at Monmouth University in West Long Branch “It does not inspire investor confidence.”

The growth of gaming in surrounding states has caused Atlantic City’s gambling revenue to tumble. Atlantic City has seen nongaming revenues, such as income from bars, eateries and spas, rise by more than $160 million in the past two years to nearly $1 billion. But gaming revenue has declined by more than $2 billion since 2010.

Mayor Guardian said that the city government must shed 200 to 300 workers as Atlantic City’s ratable base shrinks; it’s down to about $11 billion this year, from $20 billion five years ago.

Guardian and other officials Tuesday touted the city’s efforts to reposition itself from a casino-centric destination to a tourism center where gambling will play an important — but much reduced — role.

“We’re on track to be able to invest over a billion dollars in the tourism district,” from 2011 to 2016, said John F. Palmieri, executive director of the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority.

He said new additions like the massive Bass Pro Shops store, an indoor market, a waterfront convention center being built by Harrah’s, and investments by the Tropicana Casino in its hotel and new boardwalk amenities will add about 1,300 jobs by the end of 2015.

The city is also aggressively pursuing regional convention business, Palmieri said.

In spite of the spate of casino closings, Atlantic City has had a strong summer, said Liza Cartmell, president of the Atlantic City Alliance, with 95 percent occupancy rates at the city’s hotels throughout the summer. Successful events like summer beach concerts by Blake Shelton and Lady Antebellum, along with a sand sculpture contest and an air show, have drawn 700,000 people to the city, she said.

Atlantic City still attracts about 25 million visitors a year.

“There is no question that this is just an incredibly tough week in New Jersey really and especially for anyone who loves Atlantic City,” said Cartmell, who organization works to market the city. “Obviously this is going to have a significant impact, and it’s going to take time to reverse that impact.”

Contributing: The Associated Press

Jean Mikle: (732) 643-4050, jmikle@app.com