ACEA Report Warns Over 8000 Atlantic County Jobs at Risk as Atlantic City Casinos Face Five Simultaneous Pressures
TL;DR — The ACEA report flags more than 8000 at-risk jobs in Atlantic County with casino employment at a nine-year low of 21172. Five pressures ranging from iGaming migration to new regional casinos and recession risks threaten the local economy and Casino Revenue Fund. The analysis positions convention growth as the clearest channel for absorbing displaced hospitality workers.
SCCG Take — Operators and the state must channel CRDA funds into convention infrastructure now. This diversifies revenue ahead of ballot-driven expansion and limits job leakage that online platforms cannot absorb locally.
The Atlantic County Economic Alliance released a 70-page analysis that identifies five key pressures on Atlantic City and the nine casino resorts that anchor the local economy. The Greater Atlantic City Casino-Hotel Employment Exposure concludes more than 8000 jobs are at risk if brick-and-mortar casinos continue to post declining profits.
Casino employment sits at a nine-year low. The nine resorts directly employ 21172 full- and part-time workers as of April 2026. That total stood at almost 30000 before the COVID-19 pandemic. Inflation has since lifted overhead and labor costs.
Five Pressures on the Casino Economy
Gamblers continue to shift toward online platforms, with iGaming revenue in New Jersey now exceeding in-person casino revenue in Atlantic City. Three casinos are scheduled to open in New York City. New Jersey is weighing casino development at the Meadowlands and Monmouth Park racetracks. A possible recession rounds out the list. These forces together threaten the state Casino Revenue Fund and thousands of Southern New Jersey jobs.
“This is a planning document, not a doomsday prophecy. But the size of the exposure is real, and the region needs to see it clearly before more competitive pressure is added,” said Dr. Max Slusher, the ACEA’s director of business development. Slusher added that Atlantic City cannot absorb five monumental challenges at once without a plan.
Conventions as the Primary Absorption Channel
Meetings represent the only major segment of the Atlantic City casino economy that is growing. The ACEA identifies the convention and meetings market inside and around the casino hotels as the strongest local channel for displaced workers. Banquet servers, culinary staff, room attendants, audio-visual technicians, transportation workers, and front-of-house staff can transition into convention roles more readily than into online gaming positions.
The report recommends that Atlantic City, with state support, strengthen its convention and non-gaming tourism product while investing in improvements and beautification. Casinos should receive incentives to reinvest in gaming floors, convention spaces, and hotel rooms through the Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, which collects 1.25% of brick-and-mortar gross gaming and sports betting revenue plus 2.5% of iGaming. Modernizing exhibit halls would also hedge against potential competition from a Meadowlands casino if voters approve a statewide referendum.
According to reporting by Casino.org, the ACEA frames the document as a call for targeted investment rather than alarm. A Meadowlands resort would compete directly for conventions, making upgrades a prudent step to protect both jobs and market position.
Reporting: Casino.org News
Generated by SCCG’s automated editorial system from published source reporting. SCCG Management holds editorial responsibility.
Brick-and-mortar casinos cannot survive five simultaneous shocks without shifting displaced workers into convention and meetings infrastructure—today.
We work every regulated U.S. market and track every ballot measure. When Atlantic City bleeds 8000 jobs while iGaming cannibalizes retail and NYC builds three casinos, operators need convention infrastructure and workforce redeployment plans—not hope. SCCG has placed partners in every wave of U.S. expansion; we know what absorption channels actually work.
- Casino employment fell to 21,172—down from nearly 30,000 pre-pandemic—as iGaming now exceeds Atlantic City retail revenue
- Five pressures: online migration, three NYC casinos, potential NJ racino expansion, inflation, recession risk
- Convention growth is the only segment rising and the clearest path for displaced hospitality workers
SCCG angle: SCCG has convention-tech partners, workforce-transition specialists, and NJ regulatory relationships across our 545-partner network. We can connect operators to meeting-space monetization platforms and non-gaming amenity vendors that turn convention capacity into a jobs bridge before the next ballot measure lands.
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