Atlantic City Casino Jobs Face Growing Regional Competition

Atlantic City Casino Sector Faces Mounting Pressure

The Greater Atlantic City Casino-Hotel Employment Exposure Assessment examines five pressures converging on the city’s physical casino-hotel economy: online gaming substitution, three full-scale casinos planned for New York City, two proposed North Jersey casino-hotels, a potential U.S. recession and an unmodeled worst-case scenario involving further casino development.

The study, authored by ACEA Director of Business Development Dr. Max Slusher, uses four planning scenarios to measure the potential exposure facing Atlantic County rather than presenting a single forecast.

“This is a planning document, not a doomsday prophecy,” Slusher said. “But the size of the exposure is real.”

Casino Employment Falls to a Nine-Year Low

The assessment comes as Atlantic City’s casino-hotel employment base has reached its lowest point in nine years.

Direct employment at the city’s nine casinos fell to 21,172 jobs in April 2026, below the April 2021 pandemic-era level of 21,484.

At the same time, New Jersey’s gaming market is increasingly shifting toward online channels. In 2025, online gaming revenue reached $2.91 billion, surpassing Atlantic City’s $2.89 billion in brick-and-mortar casino revenue for the first time.

Real brick-and-mortar casino revenue is now 63.7% below its 2006 peak, according to the assessment.

iGaming Revenue Growth Has a Different Employment Impact

The report highlights a significant difference between online and land-based gaming: while both generate gaming revenue, they do not support the same level of local employment.

According to the study, reallocating $1 million in gaming spending from a physical Atlantic City casino-hotel to online gaming supports 30.6% fewer direct and supplier jobs in Atlantic County.

The analysis estimates 3.66 full-time-equivalent jobs per $1 million in online gaming spending, compared with 5.28 jobs for the same amount of brick-and-mortar gaming spending.

The difference is linked to the larger workforce required by physical casino-hotel operations, including dealers, housekeepers, cooks, security and hotel staff, as well as local suppliers supporting casino properties.

Central Scenario Puts 5,105 Jobs at Risk

ACEA’s “Central” scenario is the report’s baseline and assumes no new casino expansion in North Jersey.

Under this scenario, 5,105 Atlantic County jobs and $814.6 million in brick-and-mortar casino revenue could be placed in exposure by 2035. The associated regional economic output exposure is estimated at $1.1511 billion.

The Central scenario represents 28.2% of the region’s 2025 casino-floor revenue base.

ACEA also modeled a “Low / Blue Sky” scenario, with 1,490 jobs and $237.9 million in revenue exposure, and a “Moderate” scenario, with 4,647 jobs and $741.6 million in revenue exposure.

New York and North Jersey Increase Competitive Pressure

The study identifies three full-scale New York City casinos as one source of potential regional competition for Atlantic City’s brick-and-mortar gaming market.

It separately examines two proposed North Jersey casino-hotels, one at the Meadowlands in Bergen County and another at Monmouth Park in Monmouth County. These developments are excluded from the Central scenario but are incorporated into the more severe “Stress” scenario.

The assessment also includes a recession overlay. ACEA says a future recession would not create additional exposure on its own but could accelerate the timeline, potentially bringing exposure projected for 2035 forward to as early as 2030.

Stress Scenario Raises Exposure to 8,005 Jobs

When the proposed Meadowlands and Monmouth Park casino developments are added to the other modeled pressures, the assessment reaches its “Stress” scenario.

Under this scenario, 8,005 Atlantic County jobs could be placed in exposure by 2035, along with $1.2775 billion in brick-and-mortar casino revenue and $1.8051 billion in regional economic output.

The revenue exposure represents 44.2% of the region’s 2025 casino-floor revenue base.

ACEA also identifies an unmodeled worst-case scenario involving a full Meadowlands convention, casino and hotel complex combined with a casino and hotel at Monmouth Park. The report warns that this scenario could have a greater impact than any of the four modeled cases.

Convention Market Offers a Partial Employment Buffer

Beyond gaming, ACEA identifies Atlantic City’s convention and meetings market as the strongest local channel for absorbing some workers affected by changes in the casino sector.

The city offers 1,831,333 square feet of meeting space. In 2025, Visit Atlantic City booked 205 events, generating 533,242 attendees, 328,067 room nights and $362.3 million in direct economic impact.

The report notes that workers in areas such as banquet services, culinary operations, room services, audiovisual production and transportation could potentially transition into convention-related roles.

However, ACEA describes this as only a partial solution. The report also warns that potential North Jersey casino developments could compete with Atlantic City for convention business, creating additional pressure on one of the city’s key non-gaming economic sectors.

ACEA Calls for Protection of Atlantic City’s Gaming Economy

The assessment does not call for regional competition to be eliminated. Instead, ACEA recommends managing further expansion while strengthening Atlantic City’s existing casino-hotel and hospitality economy.

Its four recommendations include:

- Strengthening Atlantic City’s convention, meetings and non-gaming tourism product.

- Continuing incentives for reinvestment in the physical casino-hotel destination.

- Excluding additional in-state brick-and-mortar casino-hotel expansion from the policy agenda until protections for the Casino Revenue Fund and proactive diversification measures are in place.

- Treating regional economic diversification and living-wage job creation as urgent priorities, alongside worker retraining, social and family support, and protections for union jobs and businesses connected to the casino-hotel industry.

For the gaming industry, the assessment highlights a broader structural shift: online gaming can generate significant revenue while supporting fewer local jobs than traditional casino operations. As iGaming expands and new land-based competition emerges across the region, the balance between digital and physical gaming will remain a key issue for Atlantic City and New Jersey’s casino market through 2035.