From The Archive: Making Sense of Atlantic City's Past, Present, and Future
David Danzis discusses Atlantic City's gambling industry, its identity crisis, and challenges like New York casinos and economic woes on the Talking Shop Podcast.
New episodes of the Talking Shop Podcast will return soon. In the meantime, here is a pertinent episode from the vault that is worth a listen if you missed it the first time around.
In Episode 3 of the Talking Shop Podcast, I was joined by Las Vegas Review-Journal writer David Danzis, who was working for Catena Media at the time and has his roots in Atlantic City.
Episode 3: Atlantic City's Past, Present, and Future with David Danzis
In Episode 3 of the Talking Shop Podcast, I was joined by Catena Media’s David Danzis. David writes for several of Catena’s Play properties but is best known for his coverage of New Jersey at PlayNJ.com and, before that, for the Press of Atlantic City.
The discussion highlights the city’s complex casino market, most recently shaped by the legalization of online casino gambling in 2013, a series of casino closures, the 2018 PASPA decision, which legalized sports betting, the opening of Hard Rock and Ocean casinos, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Danzis notes that Atlantic City’s never-ending struggle to define itself is hard to ignore, as it’s caught between being a gambling hub and a family-friendly destination.
He also expresses concern that upcoming New York casinos may potentially oversaturate the region and compete directly with Atlantic City, which has not fully recovered from past economic blows, such as Pennsylvania’s casino legalization and the Great Recession.
The juicy part of the conversation centers on online gambling. Despite online gaming’s role in stabilizing the industry during the COVID pandemic, Danzis questions its long-term impact and the city’s future, citing persistent issues such as poverty, crime, and mismanagement.