Uncovering Atlantic City
Like Las Vegas, New Jersey has its own story to tell.
On November 2, 1976, New Jersey passed an amendment to the State Constitution which allowed Atlantic City to operate gambling casinos.
The purpose was to use the licensing fees and taxes from the gambling operations to lower taxes and help defray the expenses of the state's elderly and disabled population.
Atlantic City was a decaying beach resort with very little industry of any sort.
In May of 1978, Resorts International became the first casino to open, followed quickly by Caesars Boardwalk Regency, Bally's Park Place, the Sands, Harrah's Marina, the Golden Nugget, the Atlantic, Claridge, Tropicana, Trump's Casino hotel and Trump's Castle.
Two of hotels lost money. The Atlantic filed for bankruptcy in 1985, with a loss of 68.1 million dollars, and the Claridge had lost 91.5 million dollars as of 1986.
With the passage of the amendment, the Casino Control Act authorized the New Jersey Casino Control Commission to monitor gambling activities.
Gambling is only permitted only in Control Commission-approved hotels; the hotels must have at least five hundred guest rooms and must meet certain minimums of meeting and exhibition space.
They must provide dining facilities, live entertainment, and indoor sports. Credit practices and the collection of winnings is stringently controlled by the Act.
On the average, tourists lose less money in the casinos than those in Las Vegas.; they are not big spenders by any means.
Most of the tourists arrive in Atlantic City via car or bus, whereas most many people arrive in Las Vegas via car or jet.
Roughly more than twice as many people visit Atlantic City as visit Las Vegas each year, but the combined gaming and convention revenue is higher in Las Vegas.
Part of the original rationale for allowing gambling casinos to operate in Atlantic City was the hope that the revenues would be used to improve the rundown housing of the city's large pool and elderly population.
While some improvement has taken place, it has not been as significant as had been hoped. Recently, there has been a casino-sponsored effort to build homes on city-owned lots and refurbish others.
Even with its problems and limitations, however, Atlantic City is still a significant gambling center.
New Jersey was the first state to legalize the numbers game in 1975 and other states followed. The most common form of the game involves betting on a 3-digit number between 000 and 999.
The winning number is determined by mechanical means. The legal number games are an attempt to stamp out the numerous illegal games popular in lower income communities.