Can Sports Betting Do for Atlantic City What Donald Trump Couldn't?

ATLANTIC CITY — The last time there was so much hype about the future of this troubled seaside resort, Donald J. Trump was doing most of the hyping.

The president, then a casino impresario, opened the Trump Taj Mahal, the biggest gambling venue on the boardwalk, with great fanfare and at a cost of $1.2 billion in 1990, only to have it collapse into bankruptcy the following year. After years of decline, it shut down in 2016, seemingly consigned to symbolize the ruinous excess here during the Trump era.

But now, less than two years later, the old Taj, stripped of its faux minarets, concrete elephants and any evidence of the Trump name, is about to reopen as the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. On the same day, June 28, another failed casino — the epically disastrous Revel — is being reanimated a short stroll up the boardwalk as the Ocean Resort.

These revivals are scheduled just as New Jersey’s casinos scramble to cash in on another way of separating gamblers from their savings: wagering on sporting events. The Borgata casino started taking bets on sports on June 14 and others, including the Ocean Resort, are rushing to install sports books in prominent spots on their casino floors. Adding a popular form of gambling could help draw customers during the dreary winter months.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/25/nyregion/casino-atlantic-city-sports-betting-donald-trump.html