Soon-to-Be-Shuttered Showboat Could Be Sold as a Casino

Caesars, which owns the struggling Atlantic City casino, says it's open to selling the property to a buyer who would keep it open as a casino.

Caesars Entertainment Corporation, owners of the Showboat Atlantic City casino that is slated to close August 31st, has said it is open to selling the property as a casino rather than closing it down.

Caesars spokesperson Gary Thompson said the company has received “preliminary inquiries” about selling the property to a new owner, who’d keep it open as a casino. Showboat opened on the boardwalk in Atlantic City in March 1987.

“We will consider any reasonable offer,” Thompson told The Press of Atlantic City. New Jersey’s gaming mecca faces multiple challenges: Gambling revenue is off by 45 percent since 2006 due to competition from casinos in other states and the economic downturn.

But it gets worse: Adjusted for inflation, table game revenue is down from the mid-1980s. “Unlike Nevada, which in 2010 reversed its recessionary decline, Atlantic City shows no sign of reversing its current losing streak,” the UNLV Center for Gaming Research reported.

[Press of Atlantic City]