4
0

Thousands of Atlantic City casino jobs are coming back


 invite response                
2018 Jan 31, 7:14am   3,698 views  13 comments

by zzyzzx   ➕follow (5)   💰tip   ignore  



https://finance.yahoo.com/news/thousands-lost-atlantic-city-casino-jobs-coming-back-195843910.html

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Thousands of Atlantic City casino jobs lost during a brutal three-year stretch when five casinos shut down are coming back.

Since 2014, casino closings eliminated 11,000 jobs and devastated the economy of the Atlantic City region. But for many laid-off workers, the first step on the road to recovery started Tuesday, when the shuttered former Trump Taj Mahal casino began interviewing job applicants for its reincarnation this summer as a Hard Rock casino resort.

The event was for former Taj employees. About 1,600 such workers were invited to apply for jobs, and 1,400 did. Hard Rock plans additional job recruiting events in the coming weeks for people who applied online and did not necessarily work at the Taj Mahal.

"This is the first brush stroke of the renaissance," said Matt Harkness, president of the Hard Rock, which plans to open this summer.

The casino will create more than 3,000 jobs. And it will be joined by another shuttered casino that's reopening its doors this summer: The former Revel casino, which closed in 2014, will reopen as the Ocean Resort casino, adding thousands more jobs.

Monica Weekes worked at the Taj Mahal since the day now-President Donald Trump, who was a real estate mogul at the time, opened it in 1990. She recalled its closing on Oct. 10, 2016, as a depressing day she couldn't believe was happening.

"I remember praying, 'Dear Lord, please let this stay open,'" she recalled. "But when one door closes, another opens, and Hard Rock is that door for me. I can't wait to show them what I've got."

Her spunky personality appeared to be just what Hard Rock was looking for in potential workers, some of whom sang, danced or just generally charmed interviewers. Outgoing personalities and big smiles were high on the list of desired traits.

Weekes described herself as "fun first."

"It's never a dull moment at my table," she said. "I'm very patient and loyal. You won't go wrong with me!"

George Mack was a casino shift manager at the Taj Mahal when it shut down, a day he recalled as "very gloomy."

"You knew the end was coming and you had to find another job in Atlantic City, and there weren't a lot of jobs there," he said.

Mack, who was raised in nearby Margate, got a job at the Dover Downs casino in Delaware but jumped at the chance to return home.

"I surfed right in front of this place as a kid," he said. "I have sand in my shoes."

Billionaire Carl Icahn, who owned the Taj Mahal, closed it in 2016 after failing to reach a deal with Atlantic City's largest casino workers' union to restore health insurance and pension benefits he terminated.

Bob McDevitt, president of Local 54 of the Unite-HERE union, said it was gratifying to see so many former Taj Mahal employees going back to work.

"Hard Rock is a good company, and they recognize the fact that the Taj Mahal had an exceptional workforce," he said. "Those workers gave excellent service for decades."

Harkness, the Hard Rock president, agreed.

"There's institutional knowledge that comes from having worked here before," he said. "That's very valuable to us."

Comments 1 - 13 of 13        Search these comments

1   zzyzzx   2018 Jan 31, 7:23am  

zzyzzx says
he former Revel casino, which closed in 2014, will reopen as the Ocean Resort casino, adding thousands more jobs.


IMO, It's a mistake to reopen Revel as a casino. As a resort hotel only,it will do fine like Claridge and ShowBoat.

And I just got back from a stay at Resorts, and I can say that as of Monday morning the whole Taj Majal front (boardwalk side) is fenced off and one huge construction site. I even went into ShowBoat to see if it had gotten any better, and it hasn't. All the restaurants were closed and there was a steady flow of people exiting ShowBoat, presumably heading to Resorts to find an open restaurant..


Mack, who was raised in nearby Margate, got a job at the Dover Downs casino in Delaware but jumped at the chance to return home.

What the article isn't telling you is that the Delaware casinos have been hit pretty hard by new competing casinos in Maryland and Pennsylvania, and at least one of them probably needs to close. That's one reason why that guy wants to move.
2   Strategist   2018 Jan 31, 8:25am  

anon_fd7ee says
zzyzzx says

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Thousands of Atlantic City casino jobs lost during a brutal three-year stretch when five casinos shut down are coming back.


I understand unions were one reason why the casinos closed. Are they reopening without unions this time?
3   anonymous   2018 Jan 31, 8:26am  

zzyzzx says

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — Thousands of Atlantic City casino jobs lost during a brutal three-year stretch when five casinos shut down are coming back.


I understand unions were one reason why the casinos closed. Are they reopening without unions this time?
4   MrMagic   2018 Jan 31, 8:30am  

zzyzzx says
And I just got back from a stay at Resorts,


How was the overall people count. The last few times we were there, most casinos were dead with low traffic.

I don't see A/C coming back, they're just putting on more band-aids.
5   anonymous   2018 Jan 31, 8:59am  

Sniper says
zzyzzx says
And I just got back from a stay at Resorts,


How was the overall people count. The last few times we were there, most casinos were dead with low traffic.

I don't see A/C coming back, they're just putting on more band-aids.


I dunno. Now that Christie is gone and there’s a governor who cares about his constituents, we may see a comeback. But overall i agree, without a new draw to the area, stick a fork in it
6   zzyzzx   2018 Jan 31, 9:35am  

Sniper says
How was the overall people count. The last few times we were there, most casinos were dead with low traffic.


This was my first ever Atlantic City trip in January. Or really my first ever trip in Jan - April, as well as my first ever stay at Resorts, so it's hard for me to have a good basis for comparison. For one thing, even though it rained all day Sunday, and the temperature was warm by January standards. I arrived on Sunday mid day at Resorts. Having scoped out the place on a previous visit, I had no trouble finding exactly where the self parking was. I never go to Atlantic City when it's crowded, so by my off season standards, yes the casino was full of people on Sunday. I did not go out on the boardwalk at all on Sunday. Now Monday morning it was relatively empty, as was the boardwalk. It made a typical Monday morning in December look busy, but it was a Monday morning in January, and I didn't do much walking on the boardwalk, and the only place I saw open was the big 99 cents store on the beach side boardwalk. Other than that, there were more construction workers (and lots of them) all over the place (Hard Rock/Taj and inside Resorts) and police than anything else, and actual tourists were scarce. Mostly due to the fact that Resorts was the only hotel casino actually open on the north end of the boardwalk, and it's small in relative terms, and the other tourists that I saw were mostly people exiting ShowBoat to get breakfast since there were no open restaurants in ShowBoat. Pretty much everything in Resorts was open the whole time I was there. There was construction inside Resorts and something going on in the beach in front of it. I liked Resorts and I hope to go back. I had the lowest form of room there, which are the lower floors on the Ocean Tower and they are actually pretty nice and newly renovated (although a little small). Even the hallways and common area were nice too. Convenient to the pool and boardwalk. Better then the West Tower at the Tropicana and better then most of Bally's. I also liked that Resorts doesn't charge you to use the pool, for WifI, or for parking (current promotion is free self parking). The pool was nice too. That was the first time I had ever tried to use one in AC. Given how dead the boardwalk is on a weekday in the middle of the winter I figure on trying a Marina District casino hotel maybe next winter, since they supposedly have nice pools and stuff.


Sniper says
I don't see A/C coming back, they're just putting on more band-aids.


AC needs sports betting, legalized pot, and legalized prostitution. IMO, the new improved Revel should just reopen as a hotel only. Hard Rock might do OK, since the Taj really needed to be renovated and they are doing that. I have my doubts as to if the Hard Rock people should bother with a casino as well. It would do fine as hotel if the put on a huge pool where part of the casino floor is now. That is what the boardwalk is missing. Increasing the number of rooms in AC will only make it more competitive with other Jersey Shore locations which are already more expensive, and not as nice when it comes to the hotel rooms. Seriously, for what you spend to stay in a shitty motel at most shore locations in MD, DE, or NJ, that gets you a nice room at a casino hotel in Atlantic City, and there is more to do in AC than it's local competition.
7   anonymous   2018 Jan 31, 11:44am  

I think it's more once they got rid of the crappy owner, things started recovering.
8   zzyzzx   2018 Jan 31, 11:50am  

anon_8f378 says
I think it's more once they got rid of the crappy owner, things started recovering.


Carl Ichan does fine with the Tropicana, but yes the Taj definitely needed sprucing up, and the occasional promotion. I go to AC often enough and always book wel in advance and normally during some sort of sale, which really didn't happen much with them.


.anon_fd7ee says
I understand unions were one reason why the casinos closed. Are they reopening without unions this time?


I believe so. One also needs to take into account the economics of buying a foreclosure property for cheap and opening it up. The low price paid for the property makes it way more economically feasible.
9   anonymous   2018 Jan 31, 2:05pm  

Everything dies baby that's a fact
But maybe everything that dies someday comes back
Put your makeup on fix your hair up pretty and meet me tonight in Atlantic City

-Bruce Springsteen
10   anonymous   2018 Jan 31, 3:52pm  

errc says
Now that Christie is gone and there’s a governor who cares about his constituents, we may see a comeback.


that's funny, if you really think Murphy gives a crap about the citizens of NJ.
11   anonymous   2018 Feb 1, 7:59am  

anon_f6ced says
errc says
Now that Christie is gone and there’s a governor who cares about his constituents, we may see a comeback.


that's funny, if you really think Murphy gives a crap about the citizens of NJ.


https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/new-jersey/2018/01/02/1-billion-marijuana-windfall-new-jersey-some-say-its-possible/990192001/
12   MrMagic   2018 Feb 1, 8:06am  

errc says
anon_f6ced says
errc says
Now that Christie is gone and there’s a governor who cares about his constituents, we may see a comeback.


that's funny, if you really think Murphy gives a crap about the citizens of NJ.


https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/new-jersey/2018/01/02/1-billion-marijuana-windfall-new-jersey-some-say-its-possible/990192001/


..."However, representatives of the nascent industry caution that a heavy-handed approach from Trenton could stifle business, keeping much of marijuana production and distribution underground and untaxed.

The $1 billion estimate came from the Roseland law firm of Brach Eichler, which has two lawyers on Murphy's healthcare transition committee."


Story from Murphy's lawyers, more FAKE news.

Just what NJ needs, more stoned and brain dead losers wandering around the state, doesn't the state have enough brain dead Dems wandering around now?
13   anonymous   2018 Feb 1, 8:42am  

Sniper says
errc says
anon_f6ced says
errc says
Now that Christie is gone and there’s a governor who cares about his constituents, we may see a comeback.


that's funny, if you really think Murphy gives a crap about the citizens of NJ.


https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/new-jersey/2018/01/02/1-billion-marijuana-windfall-new-jersey-some-say-its-possible/990192001/


..."However, representatives of the nascent industry caution that a heavy-handed approach from Trenton could stifle business, keeping much of marijuana production and distribution underground and untaxed.

The $1...


Grow the economy with jobs and investment, and help our Veterans get access to medicine. What kind of person would be against that?

Please register to comment:

api   best comments   contact   latest images   memes   one year ago   random   suggestions