2004
historic
year in
Atlantic
City
January 1
In 2004,
Atlantic
City
witnessed
many
changes.
Trump Hotels
and Casino
Resorts
filed
bankruptcy,
the Borgata
soared
beyond
expectations,
resorts
there got
bigger and
Caesars was
gobbled up.
In November,
Tropicana
opened The
Quarter, its
dazzling but
star-crossed
$280 million
retail-and-entertainment
expansion.
But, i
t
wasn't the
ups and
downs of the
rich or
famous that
made the
biggest
commotion on
the
Boardwalk in
2004.
It was the
cocktail
servers,
chambermaids,
porters that
made waves
by staging a
month-long
strike that
turned the
Boardwalk's
high-end
casinos and
resorts into
no-frills
locations
where even
the high
rollers had
to suffer
from a lack
of perks.
Local 54 of
the Hotel
Employees
and
Restaurant
Employees
union,
pitted
10,000
front-line
employees
against the
casino
industry's
biggest
names.
Those
striking
walked
picket
lines,
dealers had
to fill-in
as waiters
and
gamblers.
The very
bread-winners
of New
Jersey's $4
billion-a-year
casino
business
suffered by
having no
room service
and dirty
rooms.
Trump's
casinos,
which agreed
on a
contract
with the
union before
the strike
began,
weren't hit
by the
strike. But
that
couldn't
solve his
company's
problems.
The casinos
were open at
Trump Taj
Mahal, Trump
Plaza and
Trump
Marina, but
they
continued to
lose
customers to
the booming
Borgata
Hotel Casino
& Spa.
The Borgata,
a sexy new
$1 billion
casino that
opened back
in 2003
continued to
boom.
The
2,010-room
hotel's
persuasive
mix of
luxurious
rooms,
celebrity
chef
restaurants
and Las
Vegas style
glamour drew
a younger
and hipper
type of
gambler to
Atlantic
City and
proved that
there was
money to be
made on
non-gambling
amenities.
Other
casinos
followed
suit in
2004,
building new
beach bars
and spicing
up their
entertainment
options in
hopes of
cashing in
with a
younger
crowd.
Resorts took
steps to
clean up its
aging
physical
plant, too,
opening a
28-story
hotel tower
that added
459 rooms to
the
property.
Its parent
company,
meanwhile,
announced
plans to buy
the Atlantic
City Hilton
casino.
The Hilton
became
available
after
Harrah's
Entertainment
announced a
$5 billion
takeover of
Caesars
Entertainment,
thanks to
New Jersey
casino laws
aimed at
keeping any
one casino
operator
from owning
so many
properties
that it
holds a
monopoly
over the
market.
Harrah's
purchase of
Caesars
would give
it control
over five of
Atlantic
City's 12
casinos, so
the company
arranged to
sell the
Hilton to
appease
regulators.
Borgata,
hoping to
turn its
early
success into
even bigger
and better
returns,
revealed
plans to add
more casino
space,
restaurants
and
nightclubs,
in addition
to a new
45-story
hotel tower.
Those kind
of
non-gambling
attractions
are
important to
Atlantic
City's
survival in
2005 and
beyond,
given the
looming
start of
slot machine
gambling in
neighboring
Pennsylvania.
