Mixed blessings after 25 years of Atlantic City casinos

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- When New Jersey voters approved gambling in hopes of saving a dying Atlantic City, it was a roll of the dice: They were betting on a mob-tainted business that had never before been used to revitalize a city.

Twenty-five years to the month after the first casino opened its doors, Atlantic City is booming and New Jersey is being hailed for making gambling more respectable. More than 25 states now have some form of casino gambling.

But Atlantic City is no Monte Carlo. There are still ugly parts of town, unemployment is more than twice the state average, and critics blame casinos for compulsive gambling and bankruptcies.

"We're a little like that inkblot test you took in college," said James Whelan, a former mayor. "Some look at us and see a butterfly, some look at us and see a cockroach."

The casino era began on May 26, 1978, when the Haddon Hall hotel reopened as Resorts International Hotel Casino.

Resorts International took in $100,000 from the slot machines the first day.

Since then, casinos have rejuvenated the Boardwalk, pumped $7 billion in capital investment into the city, created more than 45,000 jobs and generated millions of dollars in related business, from linen companies, food vendors and the like.

But the casinos are self-contained pleasure palaces, making it unnecessary for visitors to venture outside and patronize local businesses. Away from the Boardwalk, redevelopment has lagged, leaving some neighborhoods with shabby rowhouses and glass-strewn lots. Unemployment last year averaged 11.4 percent, well above the state average of 5.4 percent.

Debate over crime stats

And even though New Jersey has been able to keep casinos free of mob taint, crime increased, just as opponents predicted.

The number of purse snatchings, assaults, rapes, robberies and murders skyrocketed after the casinos opened. FBI statistics show the crime rate per 1,000 residents went from 134.3 in 1978 to a peak of 450.3 in 1988.

City officials point out that crime rates are calculated according to the number of residents, which they say is an unfair barometer given that Atlantic City gets 37 million visitors a year. But critics say studies have found a link between casinos and higher personal bankruptcy rates.

"The people of Atlantic City gambled 25 years ago when they went for this," said the Rev. Tom Grey, who heads the National Coalition Against Gambling Expansion in Rockford, Ill. "What I want is for them to stop and say, 'At what price?'"