Labor Day in Atlantic City

“Everything dies baby that’s a fact

But maybe everything that dies someday comes back.”

‘Atlantic City,’ Bruce Springsteen. *

Nobody expected it to die again, however. The panacea of legalized gambling that was supposed to resurrect a down-on-its luck shore town more than 30 years ago has gone bust.

Other states, including Pennsylvania, introduced casinos, siphoning off the lifeblood of the new Atlantic City - gamblers.

They have had better Labor Days in Atlantic City.

Showboat Hotel and Casino closed its doors over the weekend.

Today, Revel Casino, a $2 billion albatross, shuts down after being in operation for a little more than two years.

The closures, with another one looming at Trump Plaza, will put more than 6,000 people out of work. It is being described as no less than an economic disaster.

Gambling was supposed to save Atlantic City.

Instead, once neighboring states started to lure away its customers, it’s turned into a losing bet. It cost more than $2 billion to build Revel. It was supposed to be the logical extension of the upscale, glitzy Atlantic City symbolized by the success of Borgata, only on the boardwalk.

It didn’t turn out that way.

*

“Put your makeup on, fix your hair up pretty,

and meet me tonight in Atlantic City.”

Didn’t work out that way, Boss. They tried to fix Atlantic City. It worked - for awhile.

Maybe it will come back again.

Or maybe they’ll just meet at the unemployment office.

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