A.C. to open resource center for up to 6,000 laid-off casino workers

With two Atlantic City casinos set to close down this weekend, the mayor of New Jersey’s fading gambling mecca says government agencies will work with nonprofits and the casino workers union to help some of the thousands of displaced employees.

The Showboat and the two-year-old Revel Casino Hotel close immediately. Trump Plaza casino is also scheduled to close in September under increased pressure from competing casinos in neighboring states.

Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian says the state and local partners will stage a triage center for the laid-off workers at the convention center where they can get help signing up for unemployment benefits, health insurance and other services.

“Our immediate concern is certainly for all of the families that are going to be affected by that in South Jersey. Thirteen hundred of those families will be from Atlantic City but there’s more than 6,000 when you add the three properties closing,” he said.

Guardian says the city remains hopeful the properties could reopen in the future under new ownership.

“What we’re doing every day is trying to bring people in and kick the tires and find a new buyer for Revel and Showboat and the Atlantic Club.”

The Atlantic Club folded in January. Guardian suggests that the properties could be revived either as casinos, hotels or apartments.