Before 2021, total gambling revenue hadn’t eclipsed $4 billion since 2008. Looking at the bigger picture, 2021 was Atlantic City’s best year since 2008. Despite COVID restrictions and concerns lingering, 2021 land-based casino revenue was near 2019’s six-year high.
Instead, the evidence suggests that online gambling, and later sports betting, saved Atlantic City’s gambling industry. These doomsday warnings never came to pass. The anti-online gambling crowd spent years with fingers in their ears shouting, “online gambling will destroy the Atlantic City casino industry and lead to a problem gambling epidemic,” to any outlet willing to listen. When New Jersey legalized online gambling in 2013, the modern-day version of the Millerites came out of the woodwork.
