As Atlantic City continues to make a come back after a few rough years, there may soon be a new, but not so new, casino in the mix. In 2014, the Showboat Casino shut down their casino operations, along with three other casinos as the region was struggling to pull in business. In 2016, the property was purchased by Bart Blatstein, and has been used over the past few years as a non-gambling hotel space. Now, the owner has plans to bring back casino gaming to the property.
The Casino Control Commission of New Jersey have formally given preliminary approval to Blatstein to begin pursuing a casino license. Blatstein is hopeful that he will be able to get a full casino license later on the in the year and begin the construction on the casino gaming venue.
The former owner of the Showboat Casino is Caesars Entertainment. When the casino was shut down, the deed of the property included a restriction. Caesars made it where the venue could not be home to a casino for a ten-year time frame.
To get around this issue, Blatstein plans on using adjacent property to build the casino. The gaming venue will not be on the actual Showboat grounds, so the deed restriction will not come in to play. The property next door is currently being used for sand volleyball. The project would have to start from the ground up in order to create the casino.
Blatstein also has plans to create a family atmosphere onsite. The current bus terminal for the Showboat will be transformed into a family entertainment center.
If the plans come to fruition, the Showboat will be offering gaming once more and Atlantic City will be home to 10 casinos. This would mark the first time the region would be in the double digits with gaming venues since 2014.
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