Not as much fun in the sun
As the weather gets warmer in the United States, people are looking for their next vacation destination. On of those, particularly for adults on the east coast, has long been Atlantic City. Though Las Vegas has more glitz and casino glamor, Atlantic City has gambling plus the Boardwalk and beaches. But executives at Atlantic City’s three northernmost casinos – Ocean Casino Resort, Resorts and Hard Rock – are concerned as the summer draws nearer, as winter storms have eroded the beaches, which, in turn, may turn away visitors.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was supposed to replenish the sand of those beaches last year (I know, I didn’t know this was a thing, either), but that didn’t happen and it now says they probably won’t be able to do it until late summer. The casinos are pleading with them to try to expedite the process.
“It was totally destroyed,” Mike Sampson, general manager of Hard Rock Atlantic City, told the Independent of his casino’s beach bar. “Parts of it washed out to sea; debris remained on the beach and had to be disposed of.”
“How do you run a beach resort without a beach?” asked Bill Callahan, general manager of Ocean Casino Resort. “It’s a tough pill to swallow.”
Ocean spent $600,000 to bring in sand for its beach last year and things are worse now. All that sand is gone.
And its not just a fun in the sun thing. It’s also a safety and property accessibility issue. The erosion has washed away so much sand that some beach entrances just open to high drop-offs now and had to be closed.
Government red tape
The last time the federal government brought in sand for the Atlantic City casinos was 2020. As mentioned, it was supposed to happen again last year, but Congress didn’t approve the spending. According to the Independent, the replenishment costs $30 million, $25 million of which is available from the federal government. So it will happen this year, but the process by which the government bids out and approves contracts is slow. It hasn’t even started yet.
Stephen Rochette, a spokesman for the Army Corps, told the Independent that it will also try to figure out if any structural improvements can be made to the Atlantic City beaches to help slow future erosion.
The casinos are hoping that even if it will take until the end of the summer for all the sand to be replenished that perhaps at least some work can be done early so that guests can enjoy some sort of beach experience, even if it’s not what it should be.
