Four additional casinos in Atlantic City, including the Trump Taj Mahal, could shutter if gaming expands in New Jersey beyond the cash-strapped resort town.
A 10 percent decline in Atlantic City’s gross gaming revenue would put Donald Trump’s namesake casino at risk, according to a Fitch Ratings report released Thursday. It would take larger drops to imperil Resorts Casino and Golden Nugget, according to the analysis. Fitch predicts Bally’s Atlantic City also has an uncertain future.
A voter referendum in November could legalize gaming in New Jersey outside of Atlantic City. Though public opinion of gambling is mostly split evenly, and it would take at least four years to open a new in-state casino, the prospect of expansion poses a risk to the income generated by those remaining in Atlantic City, according to Fitch.
Atlantic City, which once had a monopoly on gambling on the East Coast, has been veering toward insolvency since a third of its parlors closed in 2014 amid heightened competition. Its tax base has tumbled by more than two thirds since 2010. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie last week signed two bills that will pull the 39,000-resident community from the brink of bankruptcy and give it about five months to right its finances.
