Proving that the system can change, as long as it’s a nonsensical change that won’t help anyone already in the market, New Jersey has approved mini-casinos for Atlantic City. From the AC Press:
Gov. Chris Christie signed a law Wednesday evening allowing two smaller-size casino hotels to be licensed in Atlantic City. The pilot program, under a bill championed by Sen. Jim Whelan, D-Atlantic, means applications can be submitted immediately for the two casino licenses.
Interested developers include Hard Rock Cafe International, which has discussed building a $450 million casino in line with its themed restaurants.
I’ve been talking about what a lousy idea mini-casinos are for about a year now.
Here are two blog posts I did last year that explain exactly why mini-casinos are a bad idea: right here and right here.
I haven’t seen any numbers that would make an investment of $450 million work out. Anyone CEO who attempts to spend $450 million to build a casino with 200 rooms and 500 (or so) slots when Resorts Atlantic City, with 950 rooms and 2,200 slots, just sold for $31.5 million should be fired immediately. Paying fourteen times the price for less than one-quarter of the footprint is beyond delusional.
Is there anyone who really thinks someone’s going to invest $450 million in a property that can’t possibly give them any return on investment? There’s got to be something else going on here.
Like I said before, Nevada’s got its problems, but no one is getting up in the legislature and saying that the solution is to build two more Casino Royales.