The Showboat/Stockton Debacle

Come on, Atlantic City. How much worse can things keep getting?

The Showboat opened in 1987 as part of a wave of new development in the uptown boardwalk area. Previously, uptown AC was dominated by Resorts International, the first casino to open back in 1978. Showboat joined it about a decade later and the Trump Taj Mahal soon followed in 1990. These three casinos, all in a row, partnered with the existing boardwalk shops and piers to continue tourist interest in this region of the city. (Uptown would also welcome Revel in 2012 as its fourth casino, but that’s a bit of a different story…)

Various plots of Atlantic City, mostly on the boardwalk and marina, have been zoned exclusively for hotel/casino use, some reservations in place date back to the 70s when gambling was in the process of being legalized. This helped ensure that the city would have no problem finding premium oceanfront property to build its Las Vegas East. This explains why currently there are many plots that are going unused along the boardwalk, land that was once occupied by casinos like Atlantis and Sands. This land by law cannot be used for anything else but a hotel/casino. Since no one is coming forward to build new casinos (and really, who can blame them?) the land remains vacant and frustrated.

These deed restrictions started off effective, creating the Great Wall of Casinos we now have, but nowadays the market and demand has shrunken considerably. As many as 12 casinos have operated concurrently in AC, as recently as January 2014. Today the city can barely sustain eight, and the Showboat is not one of them. It's been made clear that we’ll never need (or be able to support) more than that any longer, which is sad. But it also means that deed-restricted land will continue to go unused. We need to find and allow other uses for these closed casinos and vacant lots.

Enter Stockton University, and their plan to transform the closed Showboat into the satellite Stockton-Island campus. Lately it has come under the moniker of 'Stoboat.' Cute, right?

Stockton + Showboat = Stoboat.

At first, all seemed to go well. Stockton successfully purchased the Showboat complex from its parent company Caesars last year, for the bargain-basement price of only $18 million. Immediately Stockton announced its plans to rename the building, convert the casino into offices and classrooms, use the entertainment venues for theatre students, and continue to operate the hotel towers for public use as well as dormitories. With this influx of young intellectuals, it would help recuperate the ailing uptown district and inject AC with  fresh air and innovation. As part of the deal, Stockton claimed that Caesars would work on changing the deed restriction to allow the Showboat site to become something other than a casino.

Turns out Caesars never did. And who told on them? None other than AC's dead casino 

walking, the Taj Mahal.

The Taj has been in the news (and in my blog) very frequently these past few months. Once the largest casino in the world, and top-grossing casino in NJ, the past few years have seen the Taj experience a spectacular fall from grace. Scheduled to close several times, saved by a regretful billionaire, and mired in very public fights with the unions, the fact the Taj still has its doors open is a blessing it does not deserve. With all the problems it continues to have, the Taj Mahal literally cannot afford any more non-positive publicity. Now they are whistleblowing against Stockton, quoting the obsolete charters that the Showboat site must only be used for a casino. Operating the Stockton-Island campus would, according to Taj, weaken the bond it has with Resorts as a cohesive unit of uptown casinos, not to mention introduce hundreds of people under 21 tantalizingly close to bars and slot machines that are restricted against them.

Now that last bit I can almost agree with. Of a college’s student body, a good half of them are aged 18-20. Housing so many young adults in a former casino, with actual casinos literally steps away… it’s odd. Although it would no doubt bring in more foot traffic for the Mahal, it would be made of patrons they can’t (and won’t) accommodate. But their other reasons are simply foolish. Taj would prefer another casino adjacent to it, eating away at its customer base? Hate to break it to you Taj, but Showboat and Revel closed for a reason, and you haven't turned a profit in years. Why would you want to block a non-competing organization from moving in, hoping to turn the city around, at the excuse of wanting more competition? Or the preference of having an eyesore of a vacant neighbor eventually decaying beyond repair?

I will admit, the Taj Mahal (left and center) and Showboat (right) are literally on top of each other.

The Taj needs to keep its mouth shut. They are the big losers of the boardwalk right now, financially and critically. If any casino needs to count its blessings right now, it’s them. You worried about 19-year-olds playing video poker? Really? Hire more security. Create more jobs. Do some good. Instead you should explore how to get their visiting parents in to drop a couple dollars and stay the night there. And once these kids do turn 21, you’ve got em by the throat! Interest in gaming fades with each passing generation, cater to these brand new customers! Give these kids every reason and then some to make AC and the Taj Mahal the place to commemorate one of life’s most important birthdays. Maybe even bring the Casbah back from the grave, and if that means doing it Deko-style (18 to party, 21 to drink) then just go for it!! This is a wonderful opportunity for a hotel and casino that is in desperate need of a shot in the arm. God forbid they have to think out of the box.

Open Stockton-Island. Usher in the new generation of Atlantic City. And Taj… be quiet.