Richmond Fed, Report: The Economic Impact of a Casino Monopoly, Evidence from Atlantic City

“Overall, this study suggests that casino development was a rather successful economic development strategy for Atlantic County. Back in the 1970s, the county held relatively low employment, wage, and education levels. When Atlantic City regained its appeal as a top tourist destination in the 1980s, the county’s fortunes blossomed. The casinos brought in a high supply of leisure and hospitality jobs which resulted in the county having the second highest employment to population ratio in the state only five years later with consistent employment and wage growth thereafter. However, casino development’s success as an economic development strategy appears to be primarily driven by the city’s regional monopoly on gaming. If Atlantic County’s growth were driven by a retail agglomeration effect, as suggested by (Walker & Nesbit, 2014; Gallagher, 2014), then the end of the city’s casino monopoly might not necessarily disrupt its economic advantage. However, as seen in Figure 7, employment growth began to stall in the early 1990s as the city encountered competition from Foxwoods and other burgeoning gambling locations. While Atlantic County’s employment grew much faster than New Jersey’s during its monopoly era (122 percent vs. 28 percent), its growth fell below the state’s in the subsequent ten year period (14 percent vs. 17 percent). Today, legalized gambling is available in nearly every U.S. state so the ability for casino development to generate the same regional economic development benefits has likely waned considerably (Scavette, 2022).”