Steve Wynn predicted Atlantic City Troubles in the 1980s

Atlantic City began the year with 12 casinos, but now there’s a very realistic possibility that only eight casinos will be left in the once-proud gaming destination. And Steve Wynn claims that he’s known this moment would come since the 1980s.

Wynn’s ties to the city began in 1978, when he began construction on the Golden Nugget Casino. The Golden Nugget opened a couple years later, however, Wynn didn’t keep it long as he sold the establishment in 1987. The reason why he sold the Golden Nugget wasn’t because it was unprofitable, but rather that he hated how the town of Atlantic City was run.

As Business Insider recently reported, Wynn explained that he always thought the Atlantic City government was “corrupt and stupid.” Of course, a lot has changed since then with regard to the city’s government. But some of the other problems that Wynn saw looming ahead are beginning to surface today. You can see some of his more interesting comments below:

And I kept saying to governors of New Jersey: ‘You must take control of the central planning of this community if it’s to save itself. Right now you’re the monopoly on the East Coast; that will end someday. And the infrastructure of this city has to be so big, that it’s like Las Vegas. Las Vegas is surviving in spite of everything because the infrastructure here is so big. The menu for guests is so great. Atlantic City can’t just be a local crap game. It’s gotta be a destination city.’

“But for that, the government had to take over – the New Jersey state government, not the local Atlantic City government, which was pathetic. Well they wouldn’t. And they didn’t. And I came at one point of the view that Atlantic City was never going to take advantage of its opportunity and would eventually face obsolescence, which I’m afraid is true today.

Perhaps Wynn jumped the gun a little in selling the Golden Nugget in 1987. However, the diversification problem that he predicted is really killing Atlantic City today. Even the town’s mayor, Don Guardian, recently itted that they put all of their eggs into one basket (gaming), and now it’s really come back to haunt them.

It’s definitely too late to save some of the Atlantic City casinos that are already in trouble. This is especially true with all of the competition coming from neighboring Pennsylvania and New York. But perhaps if the city can diversify away from gaming in the next few years, they could regain their position as an attractive destination.