The ocean and beaches have always been part of Atlantic City’s identity, and from saltwater taffy to the Miss America bathing beauty to the place name itself, the city has been promoted as a place to enjoy seaside fun.
But with the important summer season approaching, there’s a little too much Atlantic in Atlantic City this year. Weeks of winter storms have severely eroded the town’s northern coast, leaving little sand to play on except at low tide.
Executives at the three northernmost casinos, Ocean Casino Resort, Resorts and Hard Rock, are pressing the federal and state governments to expedite a beach replenishment project that was supposed to take place last year.
Online gambling revenue soars in Atlantic City, while in-person gambling continues to slump
But under the current best-case scenario, new sand won’t reach the shore until late summer, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which oversees these projects.
As a result, casinos are concerned that an essential element of tourism appeal is missing. Atlantic City has long argued that its beaches set it apart from the abundance of gambling options in the region and other parts of the country. Without these, attracting tourists and gamblers could be even more difficult.
“One of the highlights of coming to Atlantic City is always the beach and boardwalk,” said Mike Sampson, general manager of Hard Rock Casino. “It’s going to be a challenge.”
Hard Rock lost its popular beach bar to repeated winter storms.
“It was completely destroyed,” Sampson said. “Some of it washed out into the sea and the debris remained on the shore and had to be disposed of.”
He said Hard Rock expects to continue renting beach cabanas and umbrellas this summer, albeit on a smaller beach.
“Unless someone can step in, it’s probably going to be a fill-in for the rest of the summer,” Sampson said.
FILE – A large amount of sand is dumped on the beach in front of the Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Friday, May 12, 2023. Ocean, Resort and Hard Rock casinos are asking federal officials to expedite their planned beach replenishment projects. Scheduled for 2024, the beach is expected to be ready for use this summer, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says construction may not begin until the fall. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry, File)
The possibility that people are less likely to come to Atlantic City is bad news for the gambling resort, which is still recovering from the coronavirus outbreak. Of the nine casinos, only three are winning more money from in-person gamblers than they did in 2019 before the pandemic hit.
And while internet gambling and sports betting have added new revenue streams to the equation, that money has to be shared with partners like technology platforms and sportsbooks, and not held solely by the casino. That’s why casinos consider the money they make from in-person gamblers their main business, and they need beaches available.
Last summer, Ocean Casino spent $600,000 trucking in sand and dumping it on the beach, but it wasn’t in as bad a condition as this year.
“How do you operate a beach resort without a beach?” asked Bill Callahan, Ocean’s general manager. “It’s a tough pill to swallow.”
And the expensive ones, that sand will quickly wash away, and now there will be even less sand left there. At high tide, ocean waves crash against the dunes, causing severe erosion of the dunes themselves.
“By the end of summer, all the sand was gone,” said Ian Jerome, Ocean’s project director for last year’s effort. “That’s not a sustainable option.”
Of the 12 beach entrances across the three casinos, only two will be accessible. The rest is a dead end in the air, and if someone falls from it, there is a dangerous fall that could lead to serious injuries, or worse.
The last time Atlantic City received sand replenishment was in 2020, and additional sand was scheduled to be added last summer. But Congress failed to approve funding for the project at the time.
This year, $25 million in federal funding is available for the $30 million cost, but the state will pay a small portion of that.
However, the government contracting process does not lend itself to ad hoc responses. Corps spokesman Stephen Rochette said the contract for the work will go out to bid in April or May, and construction is expected to begin “sometime this summer or fall.”
He said the agency recognizes that the coast north of Atlantic City tends to erode more rapidly than other coasts and is investigating the situation to see if engineering improvements can be made to the final project design. He said he is doing so.
Mark Giannantonio, president of Resort Casinos and president of the New Jersey Casino Association, said the casinos hope to have at least part of the project in place in early summer, which he called a possible “beach-light” option. He said that it is called sex.
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“Everyone recognizes the importance of getting this sand,” he said. “The sense of urgency is real.”
