Moody’s Investors Service, a Wall Street firm, predicts that Atlantic City will witness more casino closings if there’s a new wave of Northeast casino expansion.
The company’s report published on Monday notes that the North-eastern region will get eight new gambling establishments, whose total worth is $5 billion, in the next three years. According to Moody’s, these brand new destinations will be an additional problem for Atlantic City’s gambling industry, where already four out of 12 facilities closed; one of the reasons for the closings was increased competition.
The firm didn’t give exact names of casinos that would close in near future; nevertheless, it did mention Caesars, Bally’s and Trump Taj Mahal as establishments that were on the brink. Moody’s stated in its report that as the number of gambling establishments “shrinks,” the remaining casinos “have seen revenues increase.” However, the firm points out that increased competition would result with “more casino closures in Atlantic City.”
Bally’s and Caesars are part of the Caesars Entertainment group, which is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The Taj Mahal, on the other hand, is in a long phase of transition from being supported by Donald Trump into the hands of billionaire Carl Icahn. However, Trump Entertainment Resorts, the casino’s current owner, is waiting for a court order that may make it restore pension benefits and health insurance for workers. If the ruling goes against the company, Icahn threatened to stop funding the establishment, which would eventually lead to its closing.
Moody’s highlighted that the new casinos would hurt gambling facilities in New York, Maryland, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania as well. For example, the MGM National Harbor is expected to hurt business for Maryland Live! Additionally, Sugarhouse and Harrah’s Philadelphia would lose its dominance in the Philadelphia region thanks to a second casino that’s going to open there within three years.