New Jersey’s oldest gambling hall taken over by Mohegans
ATLANTIC CITY - A tribal gambling company has taken over operations of Resorts Casino Hotel, New Jersey's oldest gambling hall.
The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority on Tuesday announced the management agreement with Resorts, which has been in flux. The move represents a major push for the Connecticut-based firm to get into a long-established gambling market.
"The timing is right," MTGA CEO Mitchell Etess said in a statement. "We have long looked at the Atlantic City market as an excellent opportunity ..."
Casino industry consultant James Karmel says Mohegan may be seeking to become one of the major players in Atlantic City, where casinos have struggled for years.
"You're probably looking at consolidation," he said. And Mohegan, which runs casinos in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, could become one of a handful of firms to run the city's gambling businesses, he said.
Resorts opened in 1978 as the first place to gamble legally in the U.S. outside of Nevada.
