Looking at the bigger picture, 2021 was Atlantic City’s best year since 2008.
Despite COVID restrictions and concerns lingering, 2021 land-based casino revenue was near 2019’s six-year high. Instead, the evidence suggests that online gambling, and later sports betting, saved Atlantic City’s gambling industry. These doomsday warnings never came to pass. The anti-online gambling crowd spent years with fingers in their ears shouting, “online gambling will destroy the Atlantic City casino industry and lead to a problem gambling epidemic,” to any outlet willing to listen.
When New Jersey legalized online gambling in 2013, the modern-day version of the Millerites came out of the woodwork.