The way in which Las Vegas has weathered many an economic downturn is by spreading around the way it generates its income, and that is certainly the case with the huge casino resorts found all over town.
There was a time, and not too long ago, that casino resorts in Vegas would generate a very high percentage of their income purely from gaming, and if they had followed that business model through much more recent decades it would have probably have been the death knoll for many of them.
By concentrating their efforts on generating income from their rooms, suites, dining and drinking establishments and their show and ballrooms and often fairground style attractions, they are not putting all of their eggs into one basket so to speak, that basket being gambling.
A business model much like Vegas is what Atlantic City casino resorts need to adopt, for one only has to take a look at the massive negative effect the last financial crisis in 2008 onward had on that gambling Mecca.
By spreading around the risk and ensuring that no longer are the very largest percentage of their bottom line profits coming in from gambling, casino resorts should be able to withstand any ongoing financial downturns in the economy in much the same way that Las Vegas has been able too.
There are of course many differences between Vegas and Atlantic City, but not enough that a radical rethink wouldn’t go amiss in the latter. However, it remains to be seen if the owners and operators of casinos based there are prepared to take a few risks in the way that they do generate their income to guarantee their long term survival.
